Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Buys Shares of 4,630 UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,630 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $2,425,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director John H. Noseworthy purchased 300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $312.16 per share, for a total transaction of $93,648.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 6,063 shares in the company, valued at $1,892,626.08. The trade was a 5.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 679,493 shares in the company, valued at $196,081,295.01. This trade represents a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $312.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. UBS Group reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $385.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Bank of America downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $560.00 to $350.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $414.35.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UNH stock traded up $2.05 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $293.76. The stock had a trading volume of 6,190,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,753,623. 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 has a market cap of $266.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.45. The company's 50 day moving average price is $310.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $437.45. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $248.88 and a 1-year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.39% and a return on equity of 26.29%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group's payout ratio is presently 37.02%.

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.