First Trust Advisors LP Sells 83,766 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

First Trust Advisors LP lowered its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 46.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 96,632 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 83,766 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $30,146,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of UNH. Kilter Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Harbor Advisors LLC boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 220.0% during the second quarter. Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 48.9% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,790 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,806,000 after acquiring an additional 1,901 shares during the last quarter. Plan Group Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $279,000. Finally, CW Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 33.7% in the second quarter. CW Advisors LLC now owns 41,639 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $12,991,000 after purchasing an additional 10,503 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on UNH shares. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $423.00 to $417.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $406.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen increased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $335.00 to $338.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $378.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $385.54.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $328.40 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $297.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.43. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $234.60 and a 12 month high of $606.36. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $340.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $316.45.

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 company had revenue of $113.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.19 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $7.15 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio 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.