First Trust Bank Ltd. Invests $866,000 in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

First Trust Bank Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,644 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $866,000. UnitedHealth Group makes up 1.2% of First Trust Bank Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 774.0% in the 3rd quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 673 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 596 shares during the period. Millington Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Millington Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,156 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,591,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $246,000. AR Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 137.7% during the 3rd quarter. AR Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,090 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,558,000 after acquiring an additional 1,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC now owns 26,979 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $13,603,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $596.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. HSBC raised UnitedHealth Group from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $566.00 to $571.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $570.05.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.48, for a total value of $597,581.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,364 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,306.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock traded down $8.66 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $508.17. 2,414,748 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,169,007. The stock has a market capitalization of $467.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $488.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $511.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $554.70.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.63 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $99.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.23 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.50% and a net margin of 4.05%. UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Company 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.