Palouse Capital Management Inc. Has $485,000 Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Palouse Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 77.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 959 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,268 shares during the period. Palouse Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $485,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter valued at about $51,000. DecisionPoint Financial LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 155.0% during the fourth quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter valued at about $55,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of UNH opened at $523.48 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $523.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $563.18. The company has a market capitalization of $481.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 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. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm posted $5.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Stephens increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target 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.