Abundance Wealth Counselors Raises Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Abundance Wealth Counselors increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,110 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Abundance Wealth Counselors’ holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,067,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. West Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 132.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 65 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth $37,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on UNH. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” 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 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stephens lifted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:UNH opened at $542.30 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. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $630.73. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $536.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $565.14. The stock has a market cap of $499.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during 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 revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

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.