Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Acquires 9,178 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 475,228 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 9,178 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group accounts for 1.2% of Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned about 0.05% of UnitedHealth Group worth $240,009,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% during the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,217,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $615,324,000 after buying an additional 41,605 shares during the last quarter. LifePro Asset Management increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 60.3% in the third quarter. LifePro Asset Management now owns 1,241 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 7.8% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 620 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Lincoln National Corp increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 23.6% in the third quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 10,086 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Andesa Financial Management Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 23.9% in the third quarter. Andesa Financial Management Inc. now owns 3,159 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,601,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $542.30, for a total value of $244,035.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,737,532.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $569.00 to $615.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 18th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $590.00 to $550.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $587.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, November 23rd. Finally, Credit Suisse Group boosted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $590.00 to $610.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $599.28.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNH stock opened at $486.72 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $454.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $519.23 and its 200 day moving average is $524.47. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $445.73 and a 12 month high of $558.10.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 13th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $5.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.17 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $82.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $82.53 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 6.21% and a return on equity of 27.04%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $4.48 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 24.9 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $1.65 per share. This represents a $6.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 2nd. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.15%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. It 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 well-being services to individuals age 50 and older addressing their needs for preventive and acute health care services, as well as services dealing with chronic disease and other specialized issues for older individuals; Medicaid plans, children's health insurance and health care programs; health and dental benefits; and hospital and clinical services.