New Century Financial Group LLC Sells 233 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

New Century Financial Group LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 18.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,055 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 233 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bell Investment Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 35,946 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $17,783,000 after buying an additional 1,129 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,941 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $8,919,000 after buying an additional 342 shares during the period. Austin Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $573,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 13,823 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,277,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of UNH opened at $489.89 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $498.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $500.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $554.70. The stock has a market cap of $450.89 billion, a PE ratio of 29.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.60.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $99.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.23 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.50% and a net margin of 4.05%. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.26 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th were given a $2.10 dividend. This is an increase 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 yield of 1.71%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on UNH shares. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, March 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $591.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Three 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. According to MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $579.74.

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.