Advisory Alpha LLC Increases Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Advisory Alpha LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 20.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,486 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 931 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,712,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bayforest Capital Ltd increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 685.7% in the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 55 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 416.7% in the first quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 62 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 74.0% in the first quarter. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC now owns 87 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 339.1% in the first quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 101 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and set a $198.00 target price (down from $312.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $379.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $352.00 to $386.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Baird R W lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $389.29.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE:UNH opened at $368.74 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $340.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $332.70. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $234.60 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $333.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.47.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $0.05. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.32%. The firm had revenue of $113.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.19 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.15 EPS. UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 15th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 38.30%.

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.