Balboa Wealth Partners Cuts Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Balboa Wealth Partners reduced its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 19.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 879 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 209 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners’ holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 220,590 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $128,975,000 after acquiring an additional 26,074 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,025,000 after buying an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,060,000 after buying an additional 41,308 shares during the period. Parsifal Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter valued at about $21,165,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired 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 approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH stock opened at $480.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $439.78 billion, a PE ratio of 31.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $511.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $551.01. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $630.73. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the company earned $5.83 EPS. As a group, research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.19%.

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.