Cornerstone Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Cornerstone Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 55.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 67,003 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 23,900 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $20,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of UNH. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $47,519,620,000 after buying an additional 5,583,343 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $13,537,859,000 after buying an additional 2,486,839 shares during the period. Davis Selected Advisers increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2,234.9% in the 2nd quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 1,132,885 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $353,426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084,366 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 137.8% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,641,177 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $859,518,000 after purchasing an additional 950,928 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $198.00 target price (down from $312.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Mizuho boosted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $406.00 price target for the company. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.12.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 3.3%

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $321.44 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $234.60 and a 52 week high of $622.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $347.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $319.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $291.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $0.05. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.04% and a return on equity of 19.23%. The company had revenue of $113.16 billion during 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 revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.14%.

UnitedHealth Group 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.