Buckingham Capital Management Inc. Purchases 508 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 23rd, 2023

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) by 2.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,446 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group comprises about 1.8% of Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $11,553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 100,076.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,823,820 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $6,268,753,000 after acquiring an additional 11,812,017 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,210,004,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1,682.4% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,691,542 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,372,606,000 after buying an additional 2,540,538 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,635,038 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,289,386,000 after buying an additional 1,893,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,969,869 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $41,903,103,000 after buying an additional 851,994 shares during the last quarter. 92.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $592.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, April 17th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, May 25th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $580.00 price target for the company. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $630.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, April 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, April 20th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $591.00 price target for the company. Finally, SVB Securities lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $560.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $592.68.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Andrew Witty sold 6,160 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.49, for a total transaction of $3,002,938.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,199,084.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,008 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.58, for a total value of $488,456.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,019,764.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Andrew Witty sold 6,160 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.49, for a total transaction of $3,002,938.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,564 shares in the company, valued at $42,199,084.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,852 shares of company stock valued at $4,313,962. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $479.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $485.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $493.04. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $445.68 and a 1 year high of $558.10. The company has a market cap of $446.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.68.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.24 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $91.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.77 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 27.05% and a net margin of 6.16%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.49 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 24.86 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 19th will be given a dividend of $1.88 per share. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.65. This represents a $7.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 15th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.39%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. It 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.