Ames National Corp Purchases New Shares in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Ames National Corp bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 2,174 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $1,100,000. UnitedHealth Group accounts for approximately 0.7% of Ames National Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of UNH. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 679,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. The trade was a 14.63% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John F. Rex acquired 17,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 203,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,329,091.52. The trade was a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 over the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $563.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $501.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $360.00 price objective (down from $580.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Monday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $451.43.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $321.76 on Wednesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $248.88 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The stock has a market cap of $291.88 billion, a PE ratio of 20.76, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $464.33 and a 200-day moving average of $510.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 35.18%.

UnitedHealth Group Company Profile

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.