UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Shares Bought by Wormser Freres Gestion

Wormser Freres Gestion grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1,136.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 309 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the quarter. Wormser Freres Gestion’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $159,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of UNH. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in 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 during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,899,905,000 after purchasing an additional 906,365 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth about $6,375,744,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,503,671 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,807,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,488 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on UNH shares. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of 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 shares of UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wolfe Research cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $501.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $560.00 to $350.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, HSBC restated a “reduce” rating and set a $270.00 price objective (down previously from $490.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $441.87.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH opened at $295.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $267.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $248.88 and a fifty-two week 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $452.40 and its 200-day moving average is $505.07.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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. Equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 35.18%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,386.40. This trade represents a 34.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John F. Rex bought 17,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $291.12 per share, with a total value of $4,999,986.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 203,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. This trade represents a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 over the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is currently 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.