Meridian Wealth Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Meridian Wealth Management LLC cut its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 32.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,184 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 9,501 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $6,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $47,519,620,000 after buying an additional 5,583,343 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,537,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,839 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,312,182 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $6,624,411,000 after purchasing an additional 675,075 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,846,764,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 13.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,070,385 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,702,736,000 after acquiring an additional 847,054 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $321.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $291.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $347.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $320.06. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $234.60 and a 1 year high of $622.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

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

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $317.00 to $409.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Mizuho lifted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $286.00 to $408.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Baird R W downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $410.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.12.

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.