Aviva PLC Sells 144,457 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Aviva PLC lowered its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 13.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 892,380 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 144,457 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group makes up 1.2% of Aviva PLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Aviva PLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $451,419,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $341,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,778,636 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,039,933,000 after buying an additional 180,479 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth $319,000. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.5% during the third quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 16,370 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $9,571,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, Temasek Holdings Private Ltd boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 137.6% in the 3rd quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 161,656 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $94,517,000 after purchasing an additional 93,618 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on UNH shares. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. HSBC raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.32.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UNH stock opened at $524.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $480.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.87, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $509.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $542.37. 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 (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $101.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.83 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

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.