Brown Advisory Inc. Purchases 105,832 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 802,808 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 105,832 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $250,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter valued at $3,837,207,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 1st quarter worth $3,846,764,000. Dodge & Cox grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 117.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 8,750,560 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,729,912,000 after buying an additional 4,730,192 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $13,537,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 33.8% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 6,191,871 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,904,372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,565,245 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on UNH shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $317.00 to $409.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $352.00 to $386.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $406.00 target price for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $385.54.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $333.81 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $342.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $315.83. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $234.60 and a one year high of $608.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $302.38 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $113.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.19 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.04% and a return on equity of 19.23%. The company’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $2.21 dividend. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.14%.

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.