Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Reduces Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd reduced its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 79.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 643 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,421 shares during the quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 91,600,260 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $30,238,162,000 after buying an additional 995,210 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 18.8% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,766,922 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,516,107,000 after purchasing an additional 3,439,182 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,499,949 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,042,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,747,337 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $4,376,167,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 126.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,042,049 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,503,419,000 after purchasing an additional 7,293,009 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on UNH. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $444.00 to $492.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $395.00 to $453.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $340.00 to $373.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $410.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $385.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $404.42.

Key Headlines Impacting UnitedHealth Group

Here are the key news stories impacting UnitedHealth Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America upgraded UnitedHealth Group to Buy and raised its price target to $450, citing improving medical cost trends and a better risk/reward setup heading into earnings. Article link
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also lifted its price target on UNH to $453 and kept an Overweight rating, reinforcing the view that sentiment is improving. Article link
• Positive Sentiment: UnitedHealth raised its quarterly dividend by 5% to $2.32 per share, extending its long streak of annual dividend increases and signaling financial strength. Article link
• Positive Sentiment: Healthcare stocks, including UnitedHealth, are benefiting from a broader sector rebound as investors seek defensive stability and rotate out of more volatile areas of the market. Article link
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent coverage notes that UNH has already recovered sharply year to date, outpacing the broader market and its industry peer group. Article link
• Negative Sentiment: Some articles continue to highlight ongoing concerns around rising medical costs, managed-care scrutiny, and the stock’s earlier challenges, which could limit upside if operating trends worsen. Article link

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE UNH opened at $400.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $363.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.64. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $234.60 and a 12 month high of $404.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $348.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $323.59.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.76 by $0.47. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 2.68% and a return on equity of 14.65%. The business had revenue of $111.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $109.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. UnitedHealth Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 18.250- EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 18.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be issued a $2.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.21. This represents a $9.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.77%.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.00, for a total value of $284,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 17,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,320,775. This represents a 4.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Company Profile

UnitedHealth Group Inc is a diversified health care company headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, that operates two primary business platforms: UnitedHealthcare and Optum. Founded in 1977, the company provides a broad range of health benefits and health care services to individuals, employers, governmental entities and other organizations. Its operations span commercial employer-sponsored plans, individual and Medicare and Medicaid programs, and services for customers and health systems in the United States and selected international markets.

UnitedHealthcare is the company’s benefits business, administering health plans and networks, managing provider relationships, and offering coverage products for employers, individuals, and government-sponsored programs.