Register Financial Advisors LLC Sells 388 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Register Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 58.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 279 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 388 shares during the quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $138,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,860,515 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $44,150,045,000 after purchasing an additional 250,291 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,220,234 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $12,715,790,000 after purchasing an additional 527,526 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,122,203 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,961,369,000 after purchasing an additional 324,733 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,860,985 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,244,158,000 after purchasing an additional 542,424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at $5,802,231,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $607.00 to $546.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $618.00 to $584.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $534.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE:UNH opened at $509.58 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $498.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $502.27. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $554.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $469.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.63 by $0.28. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.50% and a net margin of 4.05%. The company had revenue of $99.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $6.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 17th. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

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.