Chemung Canal Trust Co. Reduces Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Chemung Canal Trust Co. trimmed its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 5,159 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 50 shares during the period. Chemung Canal Trust Co.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bell Investment Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 525 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 3.2% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 35,946 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $17,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,941 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,919,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 9.8% during the first quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $573,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 75,602 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $39,802,000 after purchasing an additional 5,537 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 2,851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $569.88, for a total value of $1,624,727.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,812,029.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 2,851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.88, for a total transaction of $1,624,727.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,812,029.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.03, for a total value of $868,545.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,785 shares in the company, valued at $4,507,748.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on UNH. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $566.00 to $571.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $481.00 to $647.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $614.17.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock traded down $0.06 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $579.61. The stock had a trading volume of 2,730,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,237,750. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $526.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $506.41. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $591.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $533.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.38, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.59.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.66 by $0.14. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.66% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $98.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.14 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 51.34%.

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.