Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Has $8.62 Million Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,037 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 80 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $8,618,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth about $37,000. DecisionPoint Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 155.0% in the fourth quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth about $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE UNH opened at $474.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $436.74 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $630.73. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $515.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $555.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.83 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on UNH shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.32.

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.