First Trust Advisors LP Has $108.78 Million Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 28.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 215,034 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,174 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $108,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth $341,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,778,636 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,039,933,000 after acquiring an additional 180,479 shares during the last quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 635 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.7% in the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 1,275 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $746,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth $900,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on UNH shares. Barclays reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $632.85.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 22.0 %

UNH stock opened at $456.10 on Monday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $438.50 and a 52 week high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $512.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $539.93. The company has a market capitalization of $417.20 billion, a PE ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The business had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

UnitedHealth Group Company Profile

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx. The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; health care coverage, and health and well-being services to individuals age 50 and older addressing their needs; Medicaid plans, children's health insurance and health care programs; and health and dental benefits, and hospital and clinical services, as well as health care benefits products and services to state programs caring for the economically disadvantaged, medically underserved, and those without the benefit of employer-funded health care coverage.