Stevens Capital Management LP Sells 3,949 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Stevens Capital Management LP lessened its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 63.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,277 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 3,949 shares during the quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,152,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 220,590 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $128,975,000 after acquiring an additional 26,074 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,025,000 after acquiring an additional 1,193 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,060,000 after buying an additional 41,308 shares during the period. Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter valued at about $21,165,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,611,000 after buying an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $517.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $473.57 billion, a PE ratio of 33.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $510.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $547.11.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on UNH. Barclays cut 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $629.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.