Riverbend Wealth Management LLC Purchases 224 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Riverbend Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 9.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,573 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group makes up 1.2% of Riverbend Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the fourth 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 grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,899,905,000 after acquiring an additional 906,365 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,375,744,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,503,671 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,807,527,000 after buying an additional 1,058,488 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% during 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 buying an additional 861,854 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James Financial lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Bank of America lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $552.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $427.09.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of UNH stock opened at $305.59 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $347.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $459.15. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $248.88 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The firm has a market cap of $277.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.44.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its 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). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.39% and a return on equity of 26.29%. The company had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.91 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were paid a $2.21 dividend. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 37.02%.

Insider Activity

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 589 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $179,645.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 10,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,171,390. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 679,493 shares in the company, valued at $196,081,295.01. The trade was a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

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.