Investment Partners LTD. Has $930,000 Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Investment Partners LTD. lessened its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) by 34.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,776 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock after selling 919 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD.'s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $930,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 319,515 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the fourth 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 bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,375,744,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,503,671 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $4,807,527,000 after buying an additional 1,058,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $4,514,178,000 after buying an additional 861,854 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Argus downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $360.00 price target (down from $580.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. TD Cowen cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $308.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $450.00 to $400.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $415.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 589 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $179,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 10,398 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,171,390. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John F. Rex acquired 17,175 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were purchased 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 approximately $59,329,091.52. This represents a 9.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have acquired 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company's stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of UNH traded down $5.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $302.08. The company had a trading volume of 12,778,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,629,597. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $320.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $444.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $248.88 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The stock has a market cap of $274.03 billion, a PE ratio of 12.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.45.

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

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.