Southern Capital Advisors LLC Trims Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Southern Capital Advisors LLC lowered its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 88.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 430 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,242 shares during the quarter. Southern Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 324.0% during the fourth quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,747 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $884,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335 shares during the period. Country Trust Bank lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 23,347.9% in the 4th quarter. Country Trust Bank now owns 105,750 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $53,495,000 after purchasing an additional 105,299 shares in the last quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Narus Financial Partners LLC now owns 770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 2,266 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,226,000 after buying an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integris Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 35.1% during the fourth quarter. Integris Wealth Management LLC now owns 654 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $545.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $501.82 billion, a PE ratio of 35.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.62. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $537.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $564.96. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $630.73.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.83 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.64 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.