Rakuten Securities Inc. Acquires 91 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 16.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 633 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $332,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on UNH shares. Barclays dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Raymond James lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Baird R W lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and set a $270.00 target price (down from $490.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $450.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $426.52.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $307.84 on Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $248.88 and a 12 month high of $630.73. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $381.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $470.20. The company has a market capitalization of $279.25 billion, a PE ratio of 19.86, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.44. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,386.40. This trade represents a 34.07% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John F. Rex purchased 17,175 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 203,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. The trade was a 9.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 in the last 90 days. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.