Bensler LLC Grows Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Bensler LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 142.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 16,813 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,868 shares during the quarter. Bensler LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $5,245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $47,519,620,000 after acquiring an additional 5,583,343 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $13,537,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,839 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter valued at $3,846,764,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,070,385 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,702,736,000 after buying an additional 847,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 5,386,274 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,821,061,000 after acquiring an additional 103,160 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH stock opened at $324.29 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $345.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $323.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.85. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $234.60 and a one year high of $630.73. The company has a market capitalization of $293.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $113.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.19 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $7.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $2.21 dividend. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 46.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on UNH shares. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $317.00 to $409.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $352.00 to $386.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.12.

UnitedHealth Group Company 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.