Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Has $712,000 Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. trimmed its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,408 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 56 shares during the period. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $712,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First PREMIER Bank lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 274 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $160,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC now owns 990 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $579,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Jmac Enterprises LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% in the third quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 823 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $481,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the third quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wallace Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,119 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,239,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $539.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $496.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.81, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.61. 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 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $532.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $564.77.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $5.83 EPS. Analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.32.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.