Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Acquires 154,565 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 85.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 336,466 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 154,565 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $170,205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $10,068,869,000 after acquiring an additional 319,515 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,899,905,000 after purchasing an additional 906,365 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth $6,375,744,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,514,178,000 after acquiring an additional 861,854 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,012,218,000 after acquiring an additional 36,394 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Argus downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $660.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $640.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $603.05.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $424.70 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $504.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $536.14. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $417.12 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The company has a market capitalization of $388.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.40, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The company had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.18%.

UnitedHealth Group 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.