Schear Investment Advisers LLC Sells 308 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Schear Investment Advisers LLC reduced its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 6.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,705 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 308 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group accounts for about 1.4% of Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Schear Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth about $6,375,744,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,295,153 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,344,586,000 after buying an additional 8,280,404 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 36.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,592,718 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,346,712,000 after buying an additional 2,301,010 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,503,671 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,807,527,000 after buying an additional 1,058,488 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,899,905,000 after buying an additional 906,365 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on UNH. Wolfe Research decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $501.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Bank of America cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $560.00 to $350.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $563.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $450.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $415.00.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $303.81 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $314.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $440.43. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $248.88 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $275.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.45.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 5.39%. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.91 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $288.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,019,019.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. The trade was a 14.63% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Kristen Gil purchased 3,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The stock was acquired 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 directly owned 3,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,327.06. This represents a 3,135.59% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by 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.