Sanctuary Advisors LLC Sells 8,292 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC reduced its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 136,986 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 8,292 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $74,735,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in UNH. KLCM Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 3,243 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,641,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Rational Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth $882,000. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth $3,603,000. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 2,644 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,952,015 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $987,446,000 after purchasing an additional 173,379 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $523.48 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $523.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $563.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market cap of $481.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.77, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73.

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

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.