UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Stake Lowered by Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA

Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA trimmed its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,915 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 77 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group comprises about 3.2% of Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Marshall & Sullivan Inc. WA’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $6,240,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Buska Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the first quarter. Buska Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,494 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $782,000 after purchasing an additional 23 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% in the first quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 3,013 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 13.5% in the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 5,263 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,756,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the period. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.6% in the first quarter. Chickasaw Capital Management LLC now owns 1,993 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,044,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Swisher Financial Concepts Inc. lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 21.2% in the first quarter. Swisher Financial Concepts Inc. now owns 931 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $488,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on UNH. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $677.00 to $351.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and set a $270.00 price objective (down previously from $490.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $405.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Bank of America downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $439.17.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 0.8%

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $304.27 on Tuesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $276.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.63, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $248.88 and a one year high of $630.73. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $426.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $490.74.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.91 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Kristen Gil purchased 3,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $271.17 per share, for a total transaction of $1,003,329.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,327.06. This trade represents a 3,135.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. This trade represents a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is 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.