Legacy Private Trust Co. Raises Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Legacy Private Trust Co. grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 6.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,174 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 604 shares during the quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $5,033,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bell Investment Advisors Inc lifted 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 purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,941 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,919,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the period. Bellecapital International Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 13,823 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,277,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 326.0% in the 4th quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 213 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 84,278 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $44,370,000 after buying an additional 5,023 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $483.16 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $497.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $504.26. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $554.70. The company has a market capitalization of $444.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.53, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.58. 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 (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 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 the consensus estimate of $99.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 17th will be paid a $2.10 dividend. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 17th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.74%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $618.00 to $584.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $546.00 to $559.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Baird R W raised UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $579.74.

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.