Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 61.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,268 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,584 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,096,896,000 after buying an additional 5,290,025 shares during the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter worth $480,903,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 30.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,816,254 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,942,956,000 after purchasing an additional 880,183 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 9,235.4% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 784,924 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $458,929,000 after buying an additional 776,516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 33.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,361,396 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,380,661,000 after acquiring an additional 587,088 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on UNH. Truist Financial lowered their target price 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. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Stephens boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. TD Cowen upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $627.58.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

NYSE UNH traded down $0.71 on Tuesday, hitting $512.96. The company had a trading volume of 1,654,348 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,297,267. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $472.07 billion, a PE ratio of 33.42, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $558.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $561.51.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.56 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.72%.

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.