Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. Cuts Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. cut its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 44.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,041 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 13,000 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group accounts for about 1.6% of Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $8,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Pillar Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on UNH shares. HSBC raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $524.94 on Friday. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $509.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $542.12. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The company has a market cap of $480.17 billion, a PE ratio of 33.87, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.83 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

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

UnitedHealth Group 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.