Montag & Caldwell LLC Trims Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Montag & Caldwell LLC lessened its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 15,130 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,378 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group makes up 1.6% of Montag & Caldwell LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Montag & Caldwell LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $7,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $10,068,869,000 after purchasing an additional 319,515 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $6,375,744,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,514,178,000 after acquiring an additional 861,854 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,012,218,000 after purchasing an additional 36,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,223,331 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,148,134,000 after buying an additional 182,361 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. HSBC raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial raised their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $660.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $632.85.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE UNH opened at $586.23 on Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $438.50 and a one year high of $630.73. The firm has a market cap of $536.23 billion, a PE ratio of 37.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $513.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $541.83. 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 (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.83 earnings per share. Analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.