By Anna Wilde Mathews

UnitedHealth shares fell more than 4% on Wednesday before finishing down 1%, a day after hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman wrote a post on social media that said the insurer could be overstating its profits because it denies patients medically necessary care.

Ackman, founder of investment firm Pershing Square, said in the post that he wasn't shorting the stock but urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to look into the matter. He later deleted the post on X.

UnitedHealth said in a statement that insurers are heavily regulated and claims that health insurers "can somehow over-earn are grossly uninformed about the structure and strong regulatory oversight of the sector."

UnitedHealth notified the SEC about the post, a company spokesman said.

A Pershing Square spokesperson declined to comment.

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February 05, 2025 19:02 ET (00:02 GMT)

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