S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC Purchases 1,448 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 20.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,661 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 1,448 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group comprises approximately 1.6% of S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. S.E.E.D. Planning Group LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $4,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $5,802,231,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 53,573.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,352,490 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,238,515,000 after purchasing an additional 2,348,107 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 49.3% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,617,813 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,904,670,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,352 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 35.9% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,090,986 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,627,311,000 after acquiring an additional 815,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 3,464.9% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 825,311 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $434,501,000 after acquiring an additional 802,160 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on UNH. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $618.00 to $584.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $596.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $607.00 to $546.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. StockNews.com cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, HSBC upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $580.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 4.7 %

UNH stock traded up $22.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $509.26. The company had a trading volume of 22,734,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,685,941. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $554.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $498.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $502.27. The stock has a market cap of $468.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.15, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.58.

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

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a $2.10 dividend. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. 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. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

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.