Pillar Financial Advisors LLC Takes $40,000 Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 80 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 220,590 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $128,975,000 after purchasing an additional 26,074 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,025,000 after buying an additional 1,193 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,060,000 after purchasing an additional 41,308 shares in the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $21,165,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,611,000 after buying an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on UNH. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. HSBC raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Stephens raised their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $493.35 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $513.78 and its 200 day moving average is $553.76. The company has a market cap of $451.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month 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.

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

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Company 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.