Investment Management Associates Inc. ADV Acquires New Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Investment Management Associates Inc. ADV bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 375 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 20.6% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,867 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,376,000 after buying an additional 1,857 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 5.5% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 4,196 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,076,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 49.5% in the first quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,708 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,308,000 after buying an additional 2,883 shares during the period. WP Advisors LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 5.7% during the first quarter. WP Advisors LLC now owns 4,858 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,403,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Miramar Capital LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2,089.5% during the first quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 21,698 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $10,870,000 after buying an additional 20,707 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $481.00 to $647.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $625.25 on Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The firm has a market cap of $575.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $581.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $545.85.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.00 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.56 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 54.72%.

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.