Temasek Holdings Private Ltd Trims Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Temasek Holdings Private Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) by 91.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,148 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock after selling 147,508 shares during the quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd's holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $7,157,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in UNH. Texas Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,316,000. Tolleson Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Tolleson Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,354 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $1,697,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 141.2% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,241 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $1,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312 shares in the last quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 6,071 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $3,071,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 108.2% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 13,202 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $7,013,000 after buying an additional 6,860 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on UNH. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $677.00 to $351.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho reduced their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer cut their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $486.00.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 6.2%

UNH opened at $291.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $248.88 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company has a fifty day moving average of $470.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $513.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $264.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56.

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). The business 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 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley bought 86,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 679,493 shares in the company, valued at $196,081,295.01. This trade represents a 14.63% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kristen Gil purchased 3,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $271.17 per share, for a total transaction of $1,003,329.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,818 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,035,327.06. The trade was a 3,135.59% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.

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