Ballentine Partners LLC Sells 229 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Ballentine Partners LLC cut its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 229 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $8,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,674 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,858,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Tudor Financial Inc. boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. now owns 1,777 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $899,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Addenda Capital Inc. raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 27,003 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,660,000 after acquiring an additional 1,416 shares during the period. CMH Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. CMH Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,612 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $6,886,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,896 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,500,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH opened at $510.03 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $469.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 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 company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $549.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $563.70.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on UNH. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Stephens increased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $627.74.

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.