Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC Sells 1,075 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC cut its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 16.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,351 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,075 shares during the quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $288.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,019,019.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 679,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. This represents a 14.63% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,533 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. This represents a 34.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Argus downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Baird R W downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Robert W. Baird cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and issued a $308.00 price target (down previously from $520.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.57.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 4.4%

Shares of UNH opened at $325.83 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $331.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $451.20. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $248.88 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $295.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.45.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company 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 26.29% and a net margin of 5.39%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $2.21 per share. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.02%.

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.