NBW Capital LLC Sells 2,012 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

NBW Capital LLC lowered its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 22.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,798 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,012 shares during the period. NBW Capital LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $3,560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,843 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,489,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 4,991 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,614,000 after purchasing an additional 639 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 137.8% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,641,177 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $859,518,000 after purchasing an additional 950,928 shares in the last quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,341,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 652.2% during the 1st quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 4,867 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,549,000 after purchasing an additional 4,220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on UNH. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $306.00 to $267.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Hsbc Global Res cut UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $355.00 to $286.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $501.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $366.52.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.6%

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $244.42 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $221.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $234.60 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $292.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $408.71.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.45 by ($0.37). The company had revenue of $111.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.75 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.32%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.80 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $2.21 per share. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 38.30%.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley acquired 86,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,081,295.01. The trade was a 14.63% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 589 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $179,645.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,398 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,390. This trade represents a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders purchased 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Company Profile

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.