Biondo Investment Advisors LLC Purchases 358 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Biondo Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,381 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the quarter. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $9,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $341,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 11.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,778,636 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,039,933,000 after purchasing an additional 180,479 shares during the last quarter. Kingfisher Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Kingfisher Capital LLC now owns 2,923 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,709,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.9% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 210,464 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $123,054,000 after acquiring an additional 1,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 91.9% in the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 199,460 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $116,620,000 after purchasing an additional 95,503 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $515.47 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $508.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $544.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $471.51 billion, a PE ratio of 33.26, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.83 earnings per share. Analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $629.32.

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.