Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. Boosts Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 15.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 735 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 176.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 44,249 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $22,384,000 after buying an additional 28,231 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 137.1% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,324 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 263,655 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $133,373,000 after purchasing an additional 9,872 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,734 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 187.7% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 676 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $342,000 after purchasing an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, CFO John F. Rex bought 17,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 203,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. This represents a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,386.40. This trade represents a 34.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Erste Group Bank downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and issued a $308.00 price objective (down from $520.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, May 19th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down from $580.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, May 19th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $415.00.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH stock opened at $303.81 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $248.88 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $275.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.72, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $314.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $440.43.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 5.39%. The business had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.02%.

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.