Washington Trust Advisors Inc. Acquires 153 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Washington Trust Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 18.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 971 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 153 shares during the quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $491,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,626,387,000 after buying an additional 563,554 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,440,133,000 after buying an additional 318,039 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,884,019,000 after buying an additional 193,800 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,012,218,000 after purchasing an additional 36,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,223,331 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,148,134,000 after purchasing an additional 182,361 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $476.22 on Thursday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $438.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $514.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $554.81.

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

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on UNH shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus 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.