Madison Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 37,613 UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 37,613 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $19,027,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $26,626,387,000 after purchasing an additional 563,554 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $11,440,133,000 after acquiring an additional 318,039 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $4,884,019,000 after acquiring an additional 193,800 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $4,012,218,000 after acquiring an additional 36,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,223,331 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $3,148,134,000 after acquiring an additional 182,361 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company's stock.

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UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock traded up $7.00 on Friday, reaching $488.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,912,171 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,901,614. The company has a market capitalization of $446.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.52, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $511.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $550.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.83 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group's payout ratio is 54.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on UNH shares. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $629.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.