Ancora Advisors LLC Sells 331 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Ancora Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 114,909 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 331 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group accounts for approximately 1.3% of Ancora Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Ancora Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $58,128,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of UNH. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares in the last quarter. Waycross Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Waycross Partners LLC now owns 27,794 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $14,060,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 199,536 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $100,937,000 after buying an additional 11,426 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lmcg Investments LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 37,974 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $19,210,000 after acquiring an additional 4,022 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on UNH. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $660.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $640.00 to $600.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $596.86.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNH stock opened at $398.72 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $495.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $528.74. 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 company has a market capitalization of $362.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $393.11 and a 52 week high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.18%.

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.