First Citizens Financial Corp Has $312,000 Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

First Citizens Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 9.0% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 595 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 49 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $312,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on UNH shares. Raymond James downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Argus lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $560.00 to $350.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $441.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO John F. Rex bought 17,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the completion of the purchase, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, 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 acquired 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE UNH opened at $297.49 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $439.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $498.65. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $248.88 and a 12 month high of $630.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $269.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $109.58 billion for 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 prior year, the firm posted $6.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.