Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC Takes $356,000 Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 703 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $356,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of UNH. State Street Corp raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,626,387,000 after purchasing an additional 563,554 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,440,133,000 after buying an additional 318,039 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,884,019,000 after acquiring an additional 193,800 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,012,218,000 after purchasing an additional 36,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,434,467 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,737,360,000 after purchasing an additional 237,300 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $474.95 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $516.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $557.04. The company has a market capitalization of $437.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on UNH. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.32.

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.