First Bank & Trust Boosts Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

First Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,383 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,626,387,000 after acquiring an additional 563,554 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,440,133,000 after acquiring an additional 318,039 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 193,800 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,096,896,000 after acquiring an additional 5,290,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% during the third 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on UNH. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stephens increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.32.

Insider Activity

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

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UNH opened at $510.75 on Thursday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $520.62 and a 200-day moving average of $561.67. 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 $470.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.95, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61.

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

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.