Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. Sells 157 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 71.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 62 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 157 shares during the quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $32,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Pillar Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,533 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $320.80 per share, for a total transaction of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,935,386.40. The trade was a 34.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John F. Rex purchased 17,175 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $291.12 per share, with a total value of $4,999,986.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer directly owned 203,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. This represents a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 in the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Raymond James Financial cut UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Erste Group Bank cut UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird cut UnitedHealth Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $501.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.57.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of UNH opened at $308.69 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $248.88 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $280.03 billion, a PE ratio of 12.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $324.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $447.32.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.39% and a return on equity of 26.29%. The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a $2.21 dividend. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.02%.

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.