DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Grows Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 936,422 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,228 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group accounts for approximately 1.0% of DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.10% of UnitedHealth Group worth $543,770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,905,000. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV now owns 12,465 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Vantage Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 152,107 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $75,247,000 after purchasing an additional 45,173 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,976 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $14,603,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006 shares during the period. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 72,689 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $35,126,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on UNH shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $597.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $625.00 target price (down from $640.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

NYSE:UNH opened at $564.56 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $608.63. The firm has a market cap of $521.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.78, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $583.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $537.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.91.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 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.