UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Stock Position Lowered by Cape Investment Advisory Inc.

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. trimmed its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,633 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 30 shares during the quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,626,387,000 after buying an additional 563,554 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,440,133,000 after purchasing an additional 318,039 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,884,019,000 after purchasing an additional 193,800 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,012,218,000 after buying an additional 36,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,434,467 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,737,360,000 after acquiring an additional 237,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on UNH. StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays dropped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $629.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was bought 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 owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $474.95 on Friday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $516.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $557.04. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company has a market cap of $437.09 billion, a PE ratio of 30.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $5.83 EPS. Analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

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.