Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. Sells 71 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,695 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 71 shares during the period. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. Center For Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 46.0% in the fourth quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 609 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 12,230 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,187,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 918,316 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $464,539,000 after buying an additional 35,973 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth about $27,233,000. Finally, Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,343 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,767,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the transaction, 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays decreased their price target 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. Bank of America decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $627.74.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $532.26 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $489.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $541.04 and its 200 day moving average is $564.79.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.83 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.74 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

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