Franklin Resources Inc. Buys 861,854 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 10.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 861,854 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group accounts for 1.3% of Franklin Resources Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.97% of UnitedHealth Group worth $4,514,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 155.0% in the fourth quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HSBC upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.0 %

UNH stock opened at $515.47 on Monday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company has a market capitalization of $471.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $508.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $543.92.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.83 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.