Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 15.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 619 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 115 shares during the quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. APG Asset Management US Inc. increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management US Inc. now owns 351,983 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $174,108,000 after acquiring an additional 17,747 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,772,487 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,920,039,000 after buying an additional 21,149 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 9.2% during the second quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 198,670 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $101,175,000 after buying an additional 16,800 shares in the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter worth $26,657,000. Finally, Drucker Wealth 3.0 LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter worth $1,062,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on UNH. Bank of America dropped 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. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $627.74.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of UNH opened at $528.94 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $543.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $563.78. 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 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $486.77 billion, a PE ratio of 34.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.83 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.59%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.