Waterloo Capital L.P. Lowers Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Waterloo Capital L.P. cut its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,443 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 138 shares during the quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $3,765,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth approximately $341,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 11.3% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,778,636 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,039,933,000 after acquiring an additional 180,479 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $319,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 86,650 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $50,662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,999 shares during the period. Finally, Hendershot Investments Inc. boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.8% during the third quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 41,575 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $24,308,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HSBC raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $524.94 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $509.24 and a 200 day moving average of $542.12. The firm has a market cap of $480.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.87, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.83 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.60%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.