Kensington Investment Counsel LLC Sells 94 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Kensington Investment Counsel LLC decreased its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,661 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 94 shares during the period. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 16.8% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 541 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 76.8% in the 4th quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,167 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $590,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 2,238 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,132,000 after buying an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,775 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $898,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 662,775 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $335,271,000 after buying an additional 50,945 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $499.01 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $456.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.19, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $511.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $549.15.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on UNH. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Stephens upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report 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 for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.32.

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.