Rakuten Securities Inc. Acquires New Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Rakuten Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 290 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $153,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of UNH. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the first quarter worth about $210,000. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 8.9% in the first quarter. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. now owns 744 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 31.8% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 250,196 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $127,592,000 after buying an additional 60,300 shares in the last quarter. MAS Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.8% in the first quarter. MAS Advisors LLC now owns 463 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the first quarter worth approximately $875,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on UNH shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $596.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $591.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $566.00 to $571.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $569.68.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total value of $451,127.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,977,233.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.48, for a total value of $597,581.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,306.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total value of $451,127.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,977,233.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNH stock opened at $478.99 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $441.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.28, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $489.51 and a 200 day moving average of $515.38. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $554.70.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.63 by $0.28. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.50% and a net margin of 4.05%. The business had revenue of $99.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.75 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $1.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $7.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.57%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 45.97%.

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.