Sierra Capital LLC Sells 87 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Sierra Capital LLC decreased its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,576 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. Sierra Capital LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. DecisionPoint Financial LLC raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 155.0% during the fourth quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $57,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on UNH. HSBC raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Stephens increased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE UNH opened at $461.09 on Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $436.38 and a 12 month high of $630.73. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $518.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $559.70. The stock has a market cap of $424.33 billion, a PE ratio of 29.75, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $5.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.19%.

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.