Fortis Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Fortis Capital Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 13.0% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 415 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 62 shares during the quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Bell Investment Advisors Inc boosted its position in 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 grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.2% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 35,946 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $17,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC raised its position 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 valued at $573,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 75,602 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $39,802,000 after purchasing an additional 5,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Insight Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 9,045 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,475,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $546.00 to $559.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $597.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. HSBC upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $580.00 to $610.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $481.00 to $647.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $614.17.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,500 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.03, for a total value of $868,545.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,785 shares in the company, valued at $4,507,748.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 2,851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $569.88, for a total transaction of $1,624,727.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,812,029.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.03, for a total value of $868,545.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,785 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,507,748.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE UNH opened at $604.14 on Thursday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $607.94. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $555.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $514.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $557.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.93, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.66 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $98.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $98.73 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 3.66%. UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.14 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.67 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.34%.

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.