Sandbox Financial Partners LLC Sells 176 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Sandbox Financial Partners LLC trimmed its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 17.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 856 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 176 shares during the quarter. Sandbox Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bell Investment Advisors Inc raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 525 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $276,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.2% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 35,946 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $17,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,941 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $8,919,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the period. Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 9.8% during the first quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 13,823 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,277,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on UNH. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, May 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $597.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target 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. Barclays increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $534.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $566.00 to $571.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $486.50 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve 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 has a market capitalization of $447.77 billion, a PE ratio of 29.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $498.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $502.61.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.63 by $0.28. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 26.50%. The firm had revenue of $99.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.57 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th were paid a $2.10 dividend. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 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.