Montecito Bank & Trust Acquires 238 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Montecito Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 7.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,414 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 238 shares during the period. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the subject of several research reports. Baird R W downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Argus downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. TD Cowen lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $308.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $552.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $426.52.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $313.39 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $386.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $472.32. The company has a market cap of $284.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.44. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $248.88 and a one year high of $630.73. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.91 EPS. Research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 37.02%.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley acquired 86,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $288.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,019,019.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,081,295.01. The trade was a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kristen Gil bought 3,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $271.17 per share, with a total value of $1,003,329.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,327.06. This trade represents a 3,135.59% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.28% 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.