Ballentine Partners LLC Sells 2,981 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Ballentine Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,522 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,981 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $8,414,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 525 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 35,946 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $17,783,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $573,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 75,602 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $39,802,000 after acquiring an additional 5,537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Insight Partners LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 9,045 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,475,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $481.00 to $647.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $560.00 to $604.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $614.17.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.03, for a total transaction of $868,545.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,785 shares in the company, valued at $4,507,748.55. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 2,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $569.88, for a total value of $1,624,727.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,501 shares in the company, valued at $16,812,029.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $579.03, for a total transaction of $868,545.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,785 shares in the company, valued at $4,507,748.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock traded up $1.39 on Friday, reaching $596.88. 2,926,369 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,070,939. The company has a market capitalization of $549.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.48, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $607.94. The company has a 50-day moving average of $558.98 and a 200 day moving average of $515.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.66 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $98.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.73 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.66% and a return on equity of 26.55%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.14 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.69 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

UnitedHealth Group 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.