Archer Investment Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Archer Investment Corp increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,593 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the quarter. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Telos Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,601 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $843,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 181.5% in the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 4,467 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,346,000 after purchasing an additional 2,880 shares during the last quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 42.5% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 4,010 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,111,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares during the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth $153,000. Finally, Guidance Capital Inc. boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 1,681 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $907,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total value of $451,127.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,977,233.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total value of $451,127.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,977,233.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.48, for a total transaction of $597,581.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,306.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $591.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $573.80.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE:UNH traded up $12.29 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $481.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,424,657 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,430,753. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $443.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $490.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $515.63. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $554.70.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.54 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $99.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.23 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 26.39%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $6.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.69 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $1.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $7.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.56%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 31.54%.

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.