Davis Rea LTD. Purchases 5,575 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Davis Rea LTD. grew its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 31.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,438 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,575 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group makes up approximately 6.0% of Davis Rea LTD.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Davis Rea LTD.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $11,856,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. State Street Corp boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,626,387,000 after purchasing an additional 563,554 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,440,133,000 after acquiring an additional 318,039 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,884,019,000 after purchasing an additional 193,800 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,012,218,000 after purchasing an additional 36,394 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,197,167 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,869,320,000 after buying an additional 107,097 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. HSBC upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of UNH opened at $469.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $431.71 billion, a PE ratio of 30.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $517.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $557.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.19%.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.