UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Stock Holdings Lifted by Kelman Lazarov Inc.

Kelman Lazarov Inc. raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 190.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,865 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,223 shares during the period. Kelman Lazarov Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $943,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of UNH. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $6,375,744,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at $1,914,740,000. Amundi raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 6,069,100 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,183,132,000 after purchasing an additional 2,991,470 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 76,830.4% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,888,641 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $955,388,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,186 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,514,178,000 after purchasing an additional 861,854 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. 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 report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $630.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UNH opened at $580.16 on Thursday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $510.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $541.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $530.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 54.19%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.