Ballentine Partners LLC Has $8.41 Million Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Ballentine Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 15.3% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,522 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,981 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $8,414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ellis Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC now owns 3,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,586,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.3% in the second quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 1,810 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $922,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 48.4% during the 2nd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 21,006 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $10,698,000 after purchasing an additional 6,848 shares during the last quarter. Counterweight Ventures LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Counterweight Ventures LLC now owns 4,808 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,449,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. Finally, Napean Trading & Investment Co Singapore PTE Ltd raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Napean Trading & Investment Co Singapore PTE Ltd now owns 40,163 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $20,453,000 after acquiring an additional 2,767 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Argus raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $546.00 to $601.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $481.00 to $647.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, HSBC increased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $580.00 to $610.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $614.17.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

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

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNH traded up $1.39 on Friday, reaching $596.88. 2,926,369 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,070,939. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $558.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $515.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $607.94. The stock has a market cap of $549.36 billion, a PE ratio of 36.48, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.66 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $98.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.73 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.66% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.14 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

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.