UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH Shares Bought by VeraBank N.A.

VeraBank N.A. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 32.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,716 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the quarter. VeraBank N.A.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caitlin John LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 14.8% during the first quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 862 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $451,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 21.8% in the 2nd quarter. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC now owns 4,425 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter worth approximately $1,324,000. Wealth Effects LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Effects LLC now owns 4,688 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,463,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the period. Finally, Towercrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the second quarter worth $236,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $198.00 price objective (down previously from $312.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Leerink Partners set a $410.00 target price on UnitedHealth Group and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.12.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.8%

NYSE UNH opened at $321.52 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $291.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $234.60 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $346.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $321.17.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $0.05. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.The firm had revenue of $113.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $113.19 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.14%.

UnitedHealth Group 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.