Stephens Inc. AR Increases Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 42,446 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $24,817,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Delta Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,650 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $965,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 40.0% during the second quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 63 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Saxony Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% in the second quarter. Saxony Capital Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the second quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 3,124 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,591,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Group LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 0.3 %

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $564.40 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $608.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $521.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.77, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $582.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $540.65.

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 firm had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.56 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on UNH shares. StockNews.com cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. HSBC cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $597.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Hsbc Global Res cut UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $481.00 to $647.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.53.

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.