Copley Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,345 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $786,000. UnitedHealth Group accounts for 0.7% of Copley Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,060,000 after purchasing an additional 41,308 shares during the period. Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth about $21,165,000. Discipline Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $558,000. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,905,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter worth $5,554,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Stephens boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $626.84.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock traded down $2.72 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $513.04. 1,767,971 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,958,488. The company has a market capitalization of $472.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The business has a fifty day moving average of $583.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $559.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

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

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 54.72%.

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.