Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Buys New Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,630 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $2,425,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Copia Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $288.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,019,019.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 679,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. This trade represents a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,386.40. The trade was a 34.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768 over the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. Hsbc Global Res lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “moderate sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. HSBC reaffirmed a “reduce” rating and set a $270.00 price target (down previously from $490.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 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 report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, June 6th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $415.00.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $300.37 on Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $248.88 and a one year high of $630.73. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $312.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $438.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $272.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.58, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.45.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.39% and a return on equity of 26.29%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.91 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were given a $2.21 dividend. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 37.02%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.