UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Stock Position Decreased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,875,874 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock after selling 76,141 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.21% of UnitedHealth Group worth $982,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of UNH. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 176.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 44,249 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $22,384,000 after acquiring an additional 28,231 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 137.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $2,033,000 after buying an additional 2,324 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 263,655 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $133,373,000 after acquiring an additional 9,872 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 627,739 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $317,548,000 after purchasing an additional 22,788 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carrera Capital Advisors increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 553 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $280,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 589 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,398 shares in the company, valued at $3,171,390. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,533 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director directly owned 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. The trade was a 34.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on UNH. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. TD Cowen lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $308.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Wolfe Research lowered their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $501.00 to $390.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $450.00 to $400.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $415.57.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of UNH stock traded up $1.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $308.69. The company had a trading volume of 6,161,145 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,543,771. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $327.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $448.90. The company has a market capitalization of $280.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.93, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $248.88 and a twelve month high of $630.73.

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

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. UnitedHealth Group's payout ratio is currently 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.