UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH Shares Sold by Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. cut its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 15.8% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 770,012 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 144,039 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $240,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Norges Bank bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter valued at about $3,837,207,000. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 117.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 8,750,560 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,729,912,000 after purchasing an additional 4,730,192 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,486,839 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 33.8% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 6,191,871 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,904,372,000 after buying an additional 1,565,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 396.6% in the second quarter. Natixis now owns 1,507,698 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $470,357,000 after buying an additional 1,204,092 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on UNH shares. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $423.00 to $417.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $433.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $310.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays increased 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. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $385.54.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $341.83 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $234.60 and a 12-month high of $606.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $309.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $339.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $316.91.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.The firm had revenue of $113.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $113.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 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.