Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 47.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 139,422 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 124,232 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $70,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 1,997 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,010,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 10,852 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $5,490,000 after acquiring an additional 515 shares during the period. Iams Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Iams Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,113,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 710,185 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $359,254,000 after acquiring an additional 35,719 shares during the period. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,655 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $837,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of UNH traded down $1.58 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $540.90. The stock had a trading volume of 319,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,532,496. The company has a market cap of $497.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $630.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $539.43 and a 200 day moving average of $565.28.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.83 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.19%.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.