UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH Shares Purchased by Cetera Investment Advisers

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 263,248 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,866 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $82,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew 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 worth $13,537,859,000 after buying an additional 2,486,839 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,312,182 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,624,411,000 after acquiring an additional 675,075 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,846,764,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 847,054 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $198.00 price objective (down from $312.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Leerink Partners set a $410.00 price target on UnitedHealth Group and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Mizuho raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $335.00 to $338.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.12.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $321.44 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $234.60 and a twelve month high of $622.83. The firm has a market cap of $291.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $347.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $319.44.

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

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 46.14%.

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.