JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Has $304.72 Million Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd trimmed its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 607,582 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 32,695 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group accounts for about 1.8% of JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest position. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $304,718,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,375,744,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $1,914,740,000. Amundi boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,069,100 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,183,132,000 after acquiring an additional 2,991,470 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 76,830.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,888,641 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $955,388,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,503,671 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,807,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,488 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $660.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $664.00 to $563.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $596.86.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH opened at $380.72 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $488.01 and its 200-day moving average is $522.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $346.54 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $378.54 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.91 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s 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.