Alley Investment Management Company LLC Has $328,000 Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Alley Investment Management Company LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 96.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 625 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 14,876 shares during the quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, June 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $405.00 to $418.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. 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, TD Cowen downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $308.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, May 19th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.57.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH traded down $10.30 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $315.84. The stock had a trading volume of 3,027,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,454,363. 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 firm has a market cap of $286.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $331.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $451.20. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $248.88 and a one year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 5.39%. The business had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.91 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 37.02%.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $179,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 10,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,171,390. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,386.40. This trade represents a 34.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768 in the last quarter. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

UnitedHealth Group 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.