Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Buys 518 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,297 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 518 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,174,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. State Street Corp raised 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 acquiring an additional 563,554 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,884,019,000 after acquiring an additional 193,800 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,096,896,000 after buying an additional 5,290,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,197,167 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,869,320,000 after buying an additional 107,097 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Truist Financial reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $627.74.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. The trade was 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 at this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $532.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $541.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $563.84. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $489.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.34, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 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.