Optivise Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 8.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 930 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $487,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of UNH. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $501.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 16th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $450.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $426.52.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $309.14 on Wednesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $248.88 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The company has a market capitalization of $280.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $376.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $469.08.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 5.39%. The company had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.91 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 37.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 589 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $179,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 10,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,171,390. This represents a 5.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,533 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. The trade was a 34.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

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.