UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Shares Sold by Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC

Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 22.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 911 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 260 shares during the period. Wealthedge Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $47,519,620,000 after acquiring an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,899,905,000 after acquiring an additional 906,365 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% during 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. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 36.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,592,718 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,346,712,000 after acquiring an additional 2,301,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,295,153 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,344,586,000 after purchasing an additional 8,280,404 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 589 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $179,645.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,398 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,171,390. The trade was a 5.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $271.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $246.15 billion, a PE ratio of 11.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.43. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $234.60 and a 12 month high of $630.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $288.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $399.47.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $4.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.45 by ($0.37). The business had revenue of $111.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.75 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 23.32% and a net margin of 5.04%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.80 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 38.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on UNH shares. Argus downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $563.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $355.00 to $286.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $308.00 target price (down previously from $520.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $366.52.

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.