Wambolt & Associates LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Wambolt & Associates LLC trimmed its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,222 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,235 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group accounts for approximately 1.2% of Wambolt & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Wambolt & Associates LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $3,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth about $1,914,740,000. Amundi raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,069,100 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,183,132,000 after acquiring an additional 2,991,470 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 76,830.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,888,641 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $955,388,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,186 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 129.7% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,029,540 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $601,951,000 after buying an additional 581,324 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,626,387,000 after buying an additional 563,554 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of UNH opened at $516.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $472.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $509.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $546.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

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. Equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.62%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Hsbc Global Res raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

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.