Crestone Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Crestone Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 471 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Crestone Asset Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 53,573.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,352,490 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,238,515,000 after purchasing an additional 2,348,107 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 49.3% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,617,813 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,904,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,352 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 75.0% during the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,011,150 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,014,002,000 after buying an additional 862,024 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,090,986 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,627,311,000 after buying an additional 815,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 20.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,725,650 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,879,245,000 after purchasing an additional 623,631 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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 note on Wednesday, April 17th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $600.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $545.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $618.00 to $584.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $566.00 to $571.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $570.05.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total transaction of $451,127.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,977,233.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other UnitedHealth Group news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total value of $451,127.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,977,233.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.48, for a total value of $597,581.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,527,306.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH stock traded up $2.25 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $503.21. 2,942,905 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,362,104. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.79. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $554.70. The stock has a market cap of $462.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $481.45 and its 200-day moving average is $511.98.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.63 by $0.28. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.50% and a net margin of 4.05%. The business had revenue of $99.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $1.88 per share. This represents a $7.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.97%.

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.