Studio Investment Management LLC Reduces Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Studio Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 11.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,218 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 933 shares during the quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $3,651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at $563,000. Rovin Capital UT ADV raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 28.9% in the fourth quarter. Rovin Capital UT ADV now owns 526 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. JGP Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 911 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $461,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 22.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Wealth Management LLC now owns 594 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. Finally, Congress Park Capital LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Congress Park Capital LLC now owns 1,085 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $549,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CFO John F. Rex bought 17,175 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 203,796 shares in the company, valued at $59,329,091.52. This represents a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley acquired 86,700 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $288.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,019,019.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 679,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. This represents a 14.63% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $513.00 to $362.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $575.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $486.00.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $291.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $470.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $513.95. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $248.88 and a 1-year high of $630.73. 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 stock has a market cap of $264.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.91 EPS. On average, analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 35.18%.

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.