Von Berge Wealth Management Group LLC Decreases Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Von Berge Wealth Management Group LLC lowered its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 8.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 526 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 48 shares during the period. Von Berge Wealth Management Group LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 9.7% during the first quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 1,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $910,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 7.6% in the first quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,393 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,825,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 8.7% in the first quarter. ABLE Financial Group LLC now owns 4,481 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,347,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the period. West Bancorporation Inc. grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. West Bancorporation Inc. now owns 763 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $400,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, Alta Advisers Ltd lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 4,557 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,387,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. 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 research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Bank of America lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $415.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO John F. Rex purchased 17,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were bought 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 directly owned 203,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. This trade represents a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $179,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 10,398 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,390. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768 in the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of UNH opened at $311.89 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $282.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $333.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $452.07. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $248.88 and a 12-month high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 5.39% and a return on equity of 26.29%. The business had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $2.21 dividend. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 37.02%.

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.