Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. Acquires New Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Birchwood Financial Partners Inc. bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 6,104 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $2,015,000. UnitedHealth Group makes up approximately 2.0% of Birchwood Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 176.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 44,249 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $22,384,000 after purchasing an additional 28,231 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 137.1% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,033,000 after buying an additional 2,324 shares in the last quarter. CMT Capital Markets Trading GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the second quarter valued at $340,000. Flow Traders U.S. LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $356,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $377,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting UnitedHealth Group

Here are the key news stories impacting UnitedHealth Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Leerink Partners lifted its price target on UnitedHealth Group and reiterated an outperform rating, pointing to stronger expected margins at Optum Health and improving turnaround momentum. Article
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary from Wall Street suggests investors are becoming more confident that UnitedHealth’s operational recovery is gaining traction after last year’s share price decline. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: UnitedHealth was mentioned among healthcare and enterprise-advisory companies in a story about Optura adding strategic advisors, but the announcement was not about UNH’s operations or guidance. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several roundup-style articles highlighted UnitedHealth as a stock to watch, but they did not add a new company-specific catalyst. Article
• Negative Sentiment: Earlier in the period, UnitedHealth fell more than the broader market in a trading session, reflecting some lingering volatility even as analyst sentiment improved. Article

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $385.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $330.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $370.00 to $397.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $311.00 to $337.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, HC Wainwright set a $492.00 target price on UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $409.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.00, for a total value of $284,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 17,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,320,775. This represents a 4.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 0.3%

UNH stock opened at $400.86 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $234.60 and a 52 week high of $415.98. The company has a market cap of $364.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.28, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $371.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $329.05.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 21st. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.76 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $111.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.84 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 14.65% and a net margin of 2.68%.The firm’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $7.20 earnings per share. UnitedHealth Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 18.250- EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 18.32 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 15th will be given a dividend of $2.32 per share. This represents a $9.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 15th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.09%.

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group Inc is a diversified health care company headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, that operates two primary business platforms: UnitedHealthcare and Optum. Founded in 1977, the company provides a broad range of health benefits and health care services to individuals, employers, governmental entities and other organizations. Its operations span commercial employer-sponsored plans, individual and Medicare and Medicaid programs, and services for customers and health systems in the United States and selected international markets.

UnitedHealthcare is the company’s benefits business, administering health plans and networks, managing provider relationships, and offering coverage products for employers, individuals, and government-sponsored programs.