Citizens & Northern Corp Purchases 98 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Citizens & Northern Corp lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 15.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 719 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,405,255 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $41,755,280,000 after purchasing an additional 544,740 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,062,928 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $12,893,331,000 after acquiring an additional 94,641 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,122,203 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,961,369,000 after purchasing an additional 324,733 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,860,985 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,244,158,000 after purchasing an additional 542,424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth about $5,802,231,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 2,851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $569.88, for a total transaction of $1,624,727.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,812,029.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 2,851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.88, for a total transaction of $1,624,727.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,501 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,812,029.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,500 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $579.03, for a total value of $868,545.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,507,748.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

NYSE:UNH opened at $590.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $593.26. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $548.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $512.42. The stock has a market cap of $545.00 billion, a PE ratio of 36.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.59.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.66 by $0.14. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.66% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business had revenue of $98.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.73 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $591.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, August 19th. HSBC lifted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $580.00 to $610.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Argus raised their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $614.17.

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.