UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Shares Sold by D L Carlson Investment Group Inc.

D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. lowered its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 22.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,689 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,527 shares during the quarter. D L Carlson Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $4,395,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth approximately $341,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 11.3% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,778,636 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,039,933,000 after purchasing an additional 180,479 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,522,000. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 3,476 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,032,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Bellevue Group AG increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 9.7% during the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 225,550 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $131,875,000 after purchasing an additional 19,875 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $515.47 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $508.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $543.92. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company has a market cap of $471.51 billion, a PE ratio of 33.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on UNH. StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average 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.