Whipplewood Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,236 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $625,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter worth $57,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 155.0% during the fourth quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Hsbc Global Res raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $463.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $426.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $517.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $558.41. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.19%.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.