First Eagle Investment Management LLC Has $20.26 Million Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC lessened its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 90.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 40,041 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 372,133 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $20,255,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 220,590 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $128,975,000 after purchasing an additional 26,074 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,060,000 after purchasing an additional 41,308 shares during the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $21,165,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,611,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on UNH shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stephens boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Twenty research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $480.79 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $439.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $511.85 and a 200-day moving average of $551.01.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $101.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.83 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.