Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Acquires New Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 451 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on UNH shares. Barclays lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. HSBC raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $461.09 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $424.33 billion, a PE ratio of 29.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $518.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $559.70. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.