Annapolis Financial Services LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Annapolis Financial Services LLC grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 57.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 120 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the quarter. Annapolis Financial Services LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $59,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 525 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 3.2% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 35,946 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,941 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,919,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 9.8% during the first quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $573,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 13,823 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,277,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on UNH shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $534.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $566.00 to $571.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen decreased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $607.00 to $546.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UNH traded up $22.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $509.26. The stock had a trading volume of 22,734,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,685,941. The company has a market cap of $468.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a fifty day moving average of $498.34 and a 200 day moving average of $501.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $554.70.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.63 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $99.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.23 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.50% and a net margin of 4.05%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 51.34%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.