Ethos Financial Group LLC Cuts Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Ethos Financial Group LLC reduced its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 28.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,274 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 912 shares during the quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,150,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of UNH. Hudson Value Partners LLC boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 8.3% during the third quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 1,069 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Wealth Group Ltd. boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 4.0% during the third quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,777 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,039,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth $341,000. GSG Advisors LLC boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 14.4% during the third quarter. GSG Advisors LLC now owns 746 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.7% during the third quarter. Cary Street Partners Asset Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stephens lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, HSBC upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH stock opened at $476.22 on Thursday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $438.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.72, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $514.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $554.81.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.76%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

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.