Capital & Planning LLC Reduces Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Capital & Planning LLC lowered its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 21.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 386 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 105 shares during the period. Capital & Planning LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $450.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $308.00 price target (down previously from $520.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, May 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $405.00 to $418.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $415.57.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 0.4%

UNH stock opened at $308.69 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $248.88 and a 12 month high of $630.73. The firm has a market cap of $280.03 billion, a PE ratio of 12.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $324.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $447.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.39% and a return on equity of 26.29%. The business had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 37.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 589 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $179,645.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 10,398 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,390. The trade was a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John F. Rex purchased 17,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 203,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,329,091.52. This trade represents a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 over the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Company 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.