Bristlecone Advisors LLC Sells 43 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Bristlecone Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,705 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 43 shares during the quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $5,415,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth $51,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 155.0% in the 4th quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on UNH. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH opened at $526.68 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $484.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.98, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company has a fifty day moving average of $529.18 and a 200 day moving average of $564.37.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.