Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 87 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,352 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 87 shares during the period. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced 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 report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twenty-one investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $632.85.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $585.30 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $535.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $438.50 and a 12 month high of $630.73. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $516.05 and a 200-day moving average price of $542.41.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

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.