UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Shares Bought by J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,001 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 551 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $6,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of UNH. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 88.0% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 258,833 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $151,374,000 after buying an additional 121,180 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 1,069 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,777 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 212,295 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $123,025,000 after purchasing an additional 21,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $341,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE UNH opened at $523.48 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $630.73. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $523.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $563.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $481.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.77, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.61.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.83 earnings per share. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on UNH. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Company 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.