Grassi Investment Management Sells 100 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Grassi Investment Management lowered its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 11.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 785 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 100 shares during the period. Grassi Investment Management’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $459,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,405,255 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $41,755,280,000 after buying an additional 544,740 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,062,928 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $12,893,331,000 after acquiring an additional 94,641 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,039,601 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,094,247,000 after purchasing an additional 35,533 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,096,896,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 30.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,816,254 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,942,956,000 after buying an additional 880,183 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 target price for the company. Stephens lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $632.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH opened at $560.82 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $584.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $536.49. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $608.63. The stock has a market cap of $517.87 billion, a PE ratio of 36.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.91.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.00 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $100.82 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.56 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 54.72%.

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.