Cadent Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Cadent Capital Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 23.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 702 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 220 shares during the period. Cadent Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth $27,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 152.4% during the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 53 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth $32,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 132.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 65 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler cut their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $626.79.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 4.4 %

Shares of NYSE UNH traded up $23.07 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $543.76. The company had a trading volume of 3,922,638 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,149,262. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $555.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $562.50. The company has a market capitalization of $500.41 billion, a PE ratio of 35.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.00 by $0.15. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The business had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.72%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.