New York State Teachers Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 723,490 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 27,163 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $238,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of UNH. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 126.9% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,042,049 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,503,419,000 after buying an additional 7,293,009 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 18.8% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,766,922 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,516,107,000 after buying an additional 3,439,182 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 11.1% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,499,949 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $6,042,710,000 after buying an additional 1,747,337 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the second quarter worth about $528,273,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 152.3% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,823,871 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $629,783,000 after buying an additional 1,100,850 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More UnitedHealth Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting UnitedHealth Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company posted a strong Q1 with margin improvement and an upgraded outlook, which investors view as evidence the turnaround is underway. UnitedHealth Stock Surges on Q1
• Positive Sentiment: JPMorgan raised its price target and kept an overweight stance, underpinning upside expectations from Wall Street. JPMorgan PT Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group increased its FY2026–FY2027 EPS estimates, signaling improving analyst confidence in earnings recovery.
• Positive Sentiment: UnitedHealth agreed to acquire Alegeus (benefits/consumer-directed accounts tech), aligning with management’s push into benefits technology and digital services — a strategic growth lever. Alegeus Acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted pricing discipline, digital adoption and operational fixes on the Q1 call — factors that could sustain margin improvement going forward. Q1 Earnings Call Takeaways
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple bullish commentaries and analyst pieces argue UNH may be at the start of a comeback, supporting positive investor sentiment. Bullish Opinion Piece
• Neutral Sentiment: UNH is a trending stock on retail/analyst screens — increased attention can boost volume but doesn’t guarantee directional conviction. Zacks Trending Note
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/sector commentary (e.g., Jim Cramer suggesting healthcare as a defensive hedge) can attract allocation flows into the sector broadly but is not UNH-specific. Jim Cramer Healthcare Note
• Negative Sentiment: Peer strength: Humana and Centene reported beats/strong premiums this quarter — investor appetite for other insurers’ outperformance could limit UNH’s relative rerating. Humana Q1 Beat Centene / Einhorn
• Negative Sentiment: Relative valuation pressure: CVS is trading at a much lower forward multiple, and narrative around CVS’s improving outlook could divert value-focused investors away from UNH. CVS Valuation Article

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on UNH. Argus raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $311.00 to $337.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $327.00 to $373.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $340.00 to $373.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.88.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 800 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.00, for a total value of $284,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 17,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,320,775. The trade was a 4.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of UNH traded down $2.52 on Thursday, hitting $368.22. 1,352,200 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,569,383. The company has a market capitalization of $334.42 billion, a PE ratio of 27.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $297.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $317.00. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $234.60 and a one year high of $411.99.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.76 by $0.47. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 2.68% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The company had revenue of $111.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $109.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.20 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. UnitedHealth Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 18.250- EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 18.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were given a $2.21 dividend. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 66.77%.

UnitedHealth Group Profile

UnitedHealth Group Inc is a diversified health care company headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, that operates two primary business platforms: UnitedHealthcare and Optum. Founded in 1977, the company provides a broad range of health benefits and health care services to individuals, employers, governmental entities and other organizations. Its operations span commercial employer-sponsored plans, individual and Medicare and Medicaid programs, and services for customers and health systems in the United States and selected international markets.

UnitedHealthcare is the company’s benefits business, administering health plans and networks, managing provider relationships, and offering coverage products for employers, individuals, and government-sponsored programs.