Alerus Financial NA Acquires 8,082 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Alerus Financial NA lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) by 115.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,093 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 8,082 shares during the period. Alerus Financial NA's holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $7,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in UNH. State Street Corp boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $26,626,387,000 after purchasing an additional 563,554 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during 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 during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,375,744,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $4,884,019,000 after purchasing an additional 193,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in 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 last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Hsbc Global Res raised UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Twenty investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:UNH traded up $6.07 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $522.11. 1,771,595 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,259,391. The stock has a market capitalization of $477.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $508.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $543.92. 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 Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.83 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group's payout ratio is 54.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the purchase, 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 hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

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.