UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Purchases 1,157 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Key Points

• UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 3.6%, owning 32,870 shares valued at approximately $17.2 million, making it the 19th largest position in their portfolio.
• UnitedHealth Group recently reported an EPS of $4.08, missing expectations, and had a revenue of $111.62 billion, which was slightly below analysts' forecasts.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $2.21 per share, increasing the annualized dividend to $8.84, representing a yield of 3.5%.

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,870 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 1,157 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group accounts for approximately 1.1% of UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp's holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $17,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 685.7% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 55 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Finally, IAG Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on UNH. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $350.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $308.00 price objective (down from $520.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, May 19th. Mizuho cut their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $373.52.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

NYSE UNH traded down $12.16 during trading on Friday, reaching $237.40. 39,874,177 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,268,949. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $296.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $416.24. The company has a market cap of $215.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.43. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $234.60 and a 1-year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.45 by ($0.37). The company had revenue of $111.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.75 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.32%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.80 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kristen Gil acquired 3,700 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $271.17 per share, with a total value of $1,003,329.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 3,818 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,327.06. This represents a 3,135.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,533 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $320.80 per share, for a total transaction of $491,786.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. This represents a 34.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.