Patten Group Inc. Raises Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Patten Group Inc. increased its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,961 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the quarter. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $3,015,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of UNH. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. now owns 45,400 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $22,966,000 after purchasing an additional 9,000 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,223,331 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,148,134,000 after purchasing an additional 182,361 shares in the last quarter. Tacita Capital Inc raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 166.7% in the fourth quarter. Tacita Capital Inc now owns 112 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. HFR Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. HFR Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,140 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $577,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WMG Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth $585,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $467.21 on Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $515.81 and a 200 day moving average of $556.09. The stock has a market cap of $429.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.19%.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.