Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA Reduces Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA lowered its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,849 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 316 shares during the quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $935,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,626,387,000 after buying an additional 563,554 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,440,133,000 after purchasing an additional 318,039 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,884,019,000 after purchasing an additional 193,800 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,096,896,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,025 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,197,167 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,869,320,000 after purchasing an additional 107,097 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH stock opened at $542.30 on Monday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $499.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $536.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $565.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.83 EPS. On average, analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays dropped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $629.32.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.