Abner Herrman & Brock LLC Acquires 737 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Abner Herrman & Brock LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,412 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 737 shares during the period. Abner Herrman & Brock LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $12,349,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 220,590 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $128,975,000 after acquiring an additional 26,074 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,025,000 after buying an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,060,000 after buying an additional 41,308 shares during the period. Parsifal Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $21,165,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,611,000 after buying an additional 1,051 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH stock opened at $542.30 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $536.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $565.26. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $499.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The firm 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 posted $5.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.19%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stephens upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.32.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.