Optas LLC Sells 317 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Optas LLC lowered its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 7.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,157 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 317 shares during the quarter. Optas LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,056,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,988 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,626,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors now owns 1,752 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $923,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Prentice Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,347 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,235,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 1,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $615,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. now owns 718 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the topic of several research reports. Baird R W upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $545.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $596.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $509.26 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $468.72 billion, a PE ratio of 31.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.60. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $554.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $498.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $501.63.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.63 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $99.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.23 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 26.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.55 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

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

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.