Coho Partners Ltd. Sells 13,821 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Coho Partners Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 224,623 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 13,821 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group accounts for 5.2% of Coho Partners Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Coho Partners Ltd.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $113,628,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 220,590 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $128,975,000 after acquiring an additional 26,074 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,025,000 after acquiring an additional 1,193 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,060,000 after acquiring an additional 41,308 shares in the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter worth $21,165,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,611,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on UNH. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $531.31 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $524.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $563.71. The company has a market cap of $488.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.28, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.83 earnings per share. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.