Steph & Co. Increases Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Steph & Co. boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 20.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,646 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the period. Steph & Co.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $514,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 176.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 44,249 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $22,384,000 after buying an additional 28,231 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,324 shares during the period. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Copia Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $66,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $337.00 to $379.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $418.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $337.00 to $352.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $358.95.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $345.84 on Friday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $299.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $361.40. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $234.60 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The company has a market capitalization of $313.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.98, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.45.

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

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a $2.21 dividend. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 38.30%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.