LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC Has $1.12 Million Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 33.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,209 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,375,744,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,914,740,000. Amundi boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 97.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,069,100 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,183,132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991,470 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 76,830.4% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,888,641 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $955,388,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886,186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,514,178,000 after buying an additional 861,854 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on UNH. Barclays lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $632.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:UNH opened at $599.10 on Monday. 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 $548.00 billion, a PE ratio of 38.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average of $512.87 and a 200 day moving average of $541.80. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $438.50 and a 1-year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm 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 was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.83 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

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.