3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Acquires New Shares in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 2,044 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $1,071,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hartmann Taylor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter valued at about $295,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 16.8% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 133,697 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $67,504,000 after purchasing an additional 19,193 shares in the last quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.9% during the first quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc. now owns 723 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 36.8% in the first quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 5,200 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,723,000 after acquiring an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 24.7% in the first quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 94,604 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $49,549,000 after acquiring an additional 18,734 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were acquired 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 owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. This trade represents a 34.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John F. Rex acquired 17,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 203,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. The trade was a 9.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768. 0.28% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 2.1%

NYSE UNH opened at $308.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $280.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.44. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $248.88 and a 52 week high of $630.73. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $336.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $454.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced 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). UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 5.39%. The company 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 posted $6.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 37.02%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on UNH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $405.00 to $418.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 20th. UBS Group cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $385.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Argus lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird lowered UnitedHealth Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $312.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $415.57.

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.