Guardian Partners Inc. Invests $9.95 Million in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 18,971 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $9,951,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&T Bank Corp grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 26,074 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% in 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. grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $26,060,000 after purchasing an additional 41,308 shares in the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $21,165,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $4,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the topic of a number of research reports. HSBC upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $595.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Piper Sandler cut their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH stock traded down $2.31 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $515.89. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,819,191 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,086,562. The company has a market cap of $471.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.28, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. The firm's 50-day moving average is $508.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $545.16. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $630.73. 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 - Get Free Report) last released 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. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.83 EPS. The company's revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict 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 was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. UnitedHealth Group's dividend payout ratio is 54.19%.

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.