WestEnd Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

WestEnd Advisors LLC decreased its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,247 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 7,292 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $36,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $51,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth $55,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the director now owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on UNH. 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 report on Friday, January 10th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, 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. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE:UNH opened at $526.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $484.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $529.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $564.30. 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.

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

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.