Beaumont Financial Partners LLC Cuts Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Beaumont Financial Partners LLC lessened its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) by 11.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,540 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 596 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,559,868 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $22,877,432,000 after buying an additional 869,827 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,342,468 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $9,713,058,000 after purchasing an additional 790,219 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,618,069 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,821,210,000 after purchasing an additional 189,864 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 11,015,163 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $5,531,154,000 after purchasing an additional 257,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth $4,478,185,000. Institutional investors own 87.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Frederick William Mcnabb III bought 89 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $504.32 per share, for a total transaction of $44,884.48. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,678,138.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Frederick William Mcnabb III bought 89 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $504.32 per share, with a total value of $44,884.48. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,678,138.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard T. Burke sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $478.96, for a total transaction of $1,197,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,215,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $581,936,400. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 130,144 shares of company stock worth $69,269,555. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on UNH. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $561.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, May 26th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Cowen raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $512.00 to $596.00 in a research note on Monday, April 18th. Cowen increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $512.00 to $596.00 in a research report on Monday, April 18th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $610.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 18th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $540.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $582.50.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock traded up $1.31 on Friday, reaching $535.06. The stock had a trading volume of 2,373,351 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,833,444. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $506.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $499.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $500.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $383.12 and a 1 year high of $553.29.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $5.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.24 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $80.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $79.68 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.95% and a return on equity of 25.45%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.70 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 21.86 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 20th were paid a dividend of $1.65 per share. This represents a $6.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.45. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 34.46%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. It 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 well-being services to individuals age 50 and older addressing their needs for preventive and acute health care services, as well as services dealing with chronic disease and other specialized issues for older individuals; Medicaid plans, children's health insurance and health care programs; health and dental benefits; and hospital and clinical services.