Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC Has $279,000 Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC lowered its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) by 97.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 532 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock after selling 17,315 shares during the quarter. Wealth Advisory Solutions LLC's holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $279,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Copia Wealth Management bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $337.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $450.00 to $400.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $552.00 to $353.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Argus lowered UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $415.00.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 1.8%

NYSE UNH traded down $5.62 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $302.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 12,778,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,611,336. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $274.03 billion, a PE ratio of 12.65, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $320.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $444.69. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $248.88 and a 1-year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.91 EPS. On average, research 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group's payout ratio is 37.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Kristen Gil purchased 3,700 shares of the 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 directly owned 3,818 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,035,327.06. This represents a 3,135.59% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $288.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,019,019.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 679,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. This trade represents a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 in the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.