West Paces Advisors Inc. Sells 81 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

West Paces Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,564 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 81 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,375,744,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth $1,914,740,000. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,069,100 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,183,132,000 after buying an additional 2,991,470 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 76,830.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,888,641 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $955,388,000 after buying an additional 1,886,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,503,671 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,807,527,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,488 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on UNH. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $640.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Barclays reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $642.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $650.00 to $575.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $596.86.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 2.8 %

UNH opened at $400.07 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $497.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $529.82. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $399.86 and a one year high of $630.73. 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 cap of $364.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.91 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 35.18%.

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.