Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. Raises Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 52.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,011 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,032 shares during the quarter. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 valued at $47,519,620,000 after buying an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,486,839 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 137.8% in the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,641,177 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $859,518,000 after purchasing an additional 950,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 13.6% in 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 during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $198.00 price objective (down from $312.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $310.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Barclays raised their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $352.00 to $386.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $310.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $385.13.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $362.78 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $234.60 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market capitalization of $328.56 billion, a PE ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a fifty day moving average of $338.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $338.97.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.45 by ($0.37). The business had revenue of $111.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.75 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 23.32% and a net margin of 5.04%.The company’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.80 EPS. UnitedHealth Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.000- EPS. As a group, analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 38.30%.

UnitedHealth Group 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.