St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,542 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $4,331,000. UnitedHealth Group comprises about 2.8% of St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 685.7% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 55 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Islay Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the second quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 69.4% in the 2nd quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 105 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on UNH shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $378.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $385.54.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $341.46 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $339.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $317.51. The company has a market capitalization of $309.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.43. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $234.60 and a 52-week high of $606.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $0.05. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.The company had revenue of $113.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.15 EPS. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.14%.

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.