E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Grows Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 56.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,634 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,843 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $5,379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jmac Enterprises LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 823 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $481,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.9% in the third quarter. Wallace Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,119 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,239,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 902 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $456,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. JNBA Financial Advisors raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors now owns 4,686 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,740,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Paragon Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.9% in the third quarter. Paragon Capital Management LLC now owns 721 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $422,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of UNH opened at $487.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $448.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $514.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $554.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.83 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

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.