Brand Asset Management Group Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Brand Asset Management Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,834 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 136 shares during the quarter. Brand Asset Management Group Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,626,387,000 after purchasing an additional 563,554 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,440,133,000 after purchasing an additional 318,039 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,884,019,000 after purchasing an additional 193,800 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,096,896,000 after buying an additional 5,290,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,772,487 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,920,039,000 after acquiring an additional 21,149 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on UNH shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Barclays cut their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $627.74.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of UNH opened at $510.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $551.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $562.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The firm has a market cap of $469.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 54.72%.

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.