Howard Capital Management Inc. Acquires 65 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,925 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $4,009,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of UNH. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,626,387,000 after buying an additional 563,554 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,440,133,000 after acquiring an additional 318,039 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,884,019,000 after acquiring an additional 193,800 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,197,167 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,869,320,000 after acquiring an additional 107,097 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,619,549 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,325,125,000 after purchasing an additional 12,322 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE:UNH opened at $465.58 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $519.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $560.48. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $428.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.04, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.83 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on UNH. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase 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 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.