Hickory Asset Management Inc. Sells 55 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Hickory Asset Management Inc. lessened its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 5.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,050 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 55 shares during the quarter. Hickory Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $10,068,869,000 after purchasing an additional 319,515 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,899,905,000 after purchasing an additional 906,365 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth about $6,375,744,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,503,671 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,807,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,488 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,514,178,000 after acquiring an additional 861,854 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Kristen Gil purchased 3,700 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was bought at an average price of $271.17 per share, for a total transaction of $1,003,329.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,327.06. This represents a 3,135.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,533 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,386.40. The trade was a 34.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on UNH. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Raymond James cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $405.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $426.52.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 1.6%

UNH opened at $313.39 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. The company has a market cap of $284.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $386.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $474.19. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $248.88 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm earned $6.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a $2.21 dividend. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.02%.

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.