Berkshire Hathaway Inc Purchases New Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 5,039,564 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $1,572,193,000. UnitedHealth Group accounts for 0.6% of Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 176.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 44,249 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $22,384,000 after purchasing an additional 28,231 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 137.1% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,324 shares in the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 67.0% in the 1st quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 12,161 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,369,000 after purchasing an additional 4,877 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 8.6% in the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 11,462 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $6,003,000 after buying an additional 908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,197,427 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,721,912,000 after acquiring an additional 839,002 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on UNH. Leerink Partners set a $410.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $325.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 12th. TD Cowen upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $335.00 to $338.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $378.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $433.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $385.54.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.5%

UNH stock opened at $341.83 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The business’s 50-day moving average is $339.84 and its 200 day moving average is $316.91. The stock has a market cap of $309.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.84, a PEG ratio of 2.20 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.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.15 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

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 given a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 46.14%.

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.