Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. Sells 71 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,695 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 71 shares during the quarter. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. Delta Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% in the third quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,650 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $965,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the period. First PREMIER Bank increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 274 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $160,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.9% in the third quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC now owns 990 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Jmac Enterprises LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 823 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Powers Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $244,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on UNH shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective 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 Global Res upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $627.74.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $532.26 on Monday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $541.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $564.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $489.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.83 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.