Machina Capital S.A.S. Purchases New Shares in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,538 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $810,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of UNH. Bensler LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bensler LLC now owns 7,293 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,677,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.1% in the third quarter. Texas Capital Bancshares Inc TX now owns 1,695 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $855,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,988 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,626,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors now owns 1,752 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $923,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,347 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,235,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on UNH. Piper Sandler increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $566.00 to $571.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $545.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $605.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $570.05.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.48, for a total value of $597,581.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,364 shares in the company, valued at $4,527,306.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total transaction of $451,127.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,977,233.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.48, for a total transaction of $597,581.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,306.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNH traded up $6.58 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $500.96. The company had a trading volume of 3,418,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,374,181. The firm has a market capitalization of $460.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.79. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $554.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $481.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $512.16.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.63 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $99.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a $1.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $7.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 45.97%.

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.