Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Boosts Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,122 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 257 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in UNH. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 220,590 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $128,975,000 after buying an additional 26,074 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,060,000 after buying an additional 41,308 shares in the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter valued at about $21,165,000. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $558,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,884,019,000 after acquiring an additional 193,800 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $603.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $626.79.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of UNH stock traded up $2.83 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $527.35. The company had a trading volume of 2,300,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,640,017. The stock has a market capitalization of $485.31 billion, a PE ratio of 34.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company’s fifty day moving average is $556.20 and its 200 day moving average is $561.20.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $6.56 EPS. Research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.72%.

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.