HM Payson & Co. Has $25.53 Million Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

HM Payson & Co. cut its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) by 6.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,746 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock after selling 3,607 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.'s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $25,531,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of UNH. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $10,068,869,000 after acquiring an additional 319,515 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $7,899,905,000 after acquiring an additional 906,365 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,375,744,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,503,671 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $4,807,527,000 after acquiring an additional 1,058,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $4,514,178,000 after acquiring an additional 861,854 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CFO John F. Rex acquired 17,175 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $291.12 per share, with a total value of $4,999,986.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer directly owned 203,796 shares of the company's stock, valued at $59,329,091.52. This represents a 9.20% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,533 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $320.80 per share, for a total transaction of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 6,033 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,935,386.40. This represents a 34.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 over the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on UNH. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $563.00 to $374.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Raymond James Financial downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down previously from $580.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $415.57.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH stock traded up $1.13 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $308.69. 6,161,145 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,560,015. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $280.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $324.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $447.68. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $248.88 and a 12 month high of $630.73.

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

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business 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 positive change from UnitedHealth Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. UnitedHealth Group's dividend payout ratio is 37.02%.

UnitedHealth Group 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.