Hilton Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Hilton Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 11.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,232 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,773 shares during the quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $7,200,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,626,387,000 after acquiring an additional 563,554 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,440,133,000 after buying an additional 318,039 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,884,019,000 after buying an additional 193,800 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,012,218,000 after purchasing an additional 36,394 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,223,331 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,148,134,000 after purchasing an additional 182,361 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of UNH opened at $480.79 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $511.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $551.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $439.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

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.