UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Shares Sold by Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. reduced its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,130,294 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 49,481 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group makes up about 4.9% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.23% of UnitedHealth Group worth $1,077,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Joseph Group Capital Management increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Joseph Group Capital Management now owns 7,408 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,747,000 after buying an additional 998 shares during the period. RWA Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 60,031 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,368,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 716,647 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $362,523,000 after buying an additional 21,402 shares during the period. American Money Management LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. American Money Management LLC now owns 2,408 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,218,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the period. Finally, Allianz SE acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth $25,802,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. HSBC raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $515.47 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $471.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $508.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $544.24.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $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 owned by company insiders.

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.