5 Investors Betting Big on UnitedHealth Stock After Q1

Globe and Mail

a day ago

UnitedHealth Group's (UNH) awful spring has scared off many investors, but given its size and inclusion in benchmark indexes like the S&P 500 Index ($SPX), it is widely owned by institutions. Plus, corporate insiders have been buying up shares on the dip.
UnitedHealth reported its Q1 numbers on April 17, which is before the March 31 cutoff for Q1 13F reports and prior to the nasty 25% drop in the stock in just the last month. UnitedHealth missed earnings expectations, slashed guidance, the CEO left, and the company was hit with a Justice Department probe.
#1: Vanguard Group
Vanguard ended Q1 with 90.73 million shares, up 6.6% from December. The purchase raised its ownership to 9.92% of the float. The vast majority sits in broad market index funds, so it will remain a top holder unless UnitedHealth falls out of those benchmarks.
Investors should note that Vanguard has actually reported adding more UNH stock after the Q1 cutoff. In a 13G filing dated April 30, Vanguard revealed that it added 1,073,375 shares, which pushed its ownership to 10.04%.
#2: BlackRock
BlackRock's (BLK) 13F lists 74.29 million shares. It increased its holdings by 2.27 million shares, or by 3.16%. It owned 8.12% of UNH in Q1.
Like Vanguard, most of its exposure is not direct. The iShares ETFs and other indirect holdings are why the company holds so much of UNH. The company can and does run active strategies, but index mandates dominate the UNH position. You should read BlackRock's stake as passive market ownership that could shrink or grow solely with ETF flows and benchmark weightings.
#3: State Street
Among the top five, State Street is the only investor that trimmed its UNH holdings in Q1. However, it still held 45.34 million shares, down only by 0.56%. Its ownership of UNH is at around 4.96%.
Again, this is unlikely to be due to State Street itself being bearish on UNH stock. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) bled about $24 billion in Q1 and lost its crown as the top exchange-traded fund to Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF (VOO). When cash exits an ETF, authorized participants redeem ETF shares for a 'basket' of stocks that mirrors the index.
Because SPY holds UNH at the benchmark weight, any redemption led to State Street trimming UNH. That mechanical selling clipped State Street's UNH position.
#4: JPMorgan
JPMorgan (JPM) held 26.3 million shares and grew its holdings by 7.62% to 2.87% ownership of UNH. Unlike the top three holders, JPMorgan runs numerous active large‑cap funds.
The next 13F will show whether or not they've bought the dip. However, buying in Q1 was what many investors were doing during the tariff spook. UNH stock was seen as a solid tariff hedge since it had little exposure and healthcare stocks are typically seen as defensive.
#5: Wellington Management Group
Wellington is another active owner. It held 25.8 million of UNH stock in Q1 and increased its holdings by 10.65% to 2.83% of UNH. Wellington runs high‑active‑share, research‑heavy mandates for pensions and endowments, so this is a true security‑selection call. Management there has a long history of buying quality stocks during macro turbulence.
They were likely de-risking their portfolios ahead of tariffs, though those investments haven't panned out well. Still, their average buy-in price at $170.16 is far lower than UNH's $301.4 price today.