Sherman Asset Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 442 UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Sherman Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 442 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of UNH. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 76,830.4% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,888,641 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $955,388,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,186 shares during the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 9,235.4% during the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 784,924 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $458,929,000 after purchasing an additional 776,516 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 129.7% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,029,540 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $601,951,000 after purchasing an additional 581,324 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised 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 acquiring an additional 563,554 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth about $276,785,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the purchase, 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $474.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $437.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.64, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. 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 quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $516.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $557.04.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. On average, research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 54.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Stephens raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average 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.