Central Bank & Trust Co. Reduces Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Central Bank & Trust Co. trimmed its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,464 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,981 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group accounts for approximately 1.1% of Central Bank & Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Central Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $7,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $627.74.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $510.03 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $469.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $549.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $563.70.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.77 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.65%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.19%.

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.