Alesco Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Alesco Advisors LLC reduced its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 529 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 25 shares during the period. Alesco Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Jmac Enterprises LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 823 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,119 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 902 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $456,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 4,686 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,740,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paragon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Paragon Capital Management LLC now owns 721 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH opened at $474.95 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $437.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.64, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $516.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $556.89. 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 12 month low of $436.38 and a 12 month high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $5.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler dropped 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. Barclays dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $629.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.