Busey Bank Has $8.23 Million Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Busey Bank lowered its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 16,271 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 43 shares during the quarter. Busey Bank’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $8,231,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 152.4% in the 3rd quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 53 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. West Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 132.1% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 65 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:UNH opened at $538.29 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $495.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 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. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $539.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $565.28.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.83 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.74 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on UNH. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by 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.