Financial Advocates Investment Management Reduces Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Financial Advocates Investment Management cut its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 40.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,257 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,510 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,947 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,544,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the first quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,154 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Tlwm raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Tlwm now owns 2,736 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,433,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 8,781 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,599,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Endowment Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 5.0% during the first quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 650 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on UNH. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated 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. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $352.00 to $386.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.12.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $329.78 on Thursday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $234.60 and a 52-week high of $622.83. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $343.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $315.11. The firm has a market cap of $298.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $113.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $113.19 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.15 EPS. Equities analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a $2.21 dividend. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 46.14%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.