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

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 46.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund 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 SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 176.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 44,249 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $22,384,000 after buying an additional 28,231 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 137.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,324 shares during the period. Ted Buchan & Co raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.0% during the first quarter. Ted Buchan & Co now owns 5,900 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,090,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 5.7% in the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,830,167 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $958,550,000 after buying an additional 98,245 shares during the period. Finally, S Bank Fund Management Ltd acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,928,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Leerink Partners set a $410.00 target price on UnitedHealth Group and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Seventeen equities 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $385.54.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH stock opened at $328.40 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $340.54 and a 200-day moving average of $316.45. The firm has a market cap of $297.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.14, a P/E/G 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 quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $113.16 billion during 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%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $7.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

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