West Paces Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

West Paces Advisors Inc. lowered its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,564 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 81 shares during the quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $791,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at $6,375,744,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,914,740,000. Amundi grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 97.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 6,069,100 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,183,132,000 after acquiring an additional 2,991,470 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 76,830.4% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,888,641 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $955,388,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings 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 valued at $4,807,527,000 after buying an additional 1,058,488 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 2.8 %

UNH opened at $400.07 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $399.86 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $364.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $497.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $529.82.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.91 EPS. Analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNH has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Argus downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and set a $490.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $660.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $596.86.

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.