BankPlus Trust Department Invests $1.46 Million in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 2,884 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $1,459,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Accredited Investors Inc. boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 9,235.4% during the third quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 784,924 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $458,929,000 after acquiring an additional 776,516 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 129.7% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,029,540 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $601,951,000 after acquiring an additional 581,324 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,626,387,000 after purchasing an additional 563,554 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter worth $276,785,000. Finally, Canoe Financial LP acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $216,166,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Stephens boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $465.58 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $519.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $560.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $428.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.04, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.83 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.