Smith Moore & CO. Increases Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Smith Moore & CO. raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,161 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,093,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of UNH. Broderick Brian C raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Broderick Brian C now owns 22,761 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,514,000 after buying an additional 1,264 shares during the last quarter. George Kaiser Family Foundation purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $236,000. Resolute Advisors LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth $211,000. Yoffe Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $1,232,000. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 635,550 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $321,499,000 after purchasing an additional 14,713 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE:UNH opened at $524.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $509.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $542.37. The stock has a market cap of $480.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.87, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62.

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

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.19%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. HSBC raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $629.32.

Insider Activity

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.