Alpine Bank Wealth Management Acquires Shares of 345 UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Alpine Bank Wealth Management bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 345 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $181,000.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 530,103 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $277,641,000 after acquiring an additional 1,465 shares during the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $515,000. Full Sail Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Full Sail Capital LLC now owns 1,612 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $815,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth about $39,413,000. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 38,796 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $19,625,000 after purchasing an additional 12,550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $288.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,019,019.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. The trade was a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristen Gil acquired 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $271.17 per share, with a total value of $1,003,329.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,818 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,327.06. The trade was a 3,135.59% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNH opened at $302.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $274.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.44. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $248.88 and a one year high of $630.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $342.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $458.07.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.39% and a return on equity of 26.29%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.91 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNH has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Bank of America cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and set a $270.00 price objective (down from $490.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Raymond James Financial downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $415.57.

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.