Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 94.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,046 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 307,958 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $8,623,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 220,590 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $128,975,000 after buying an additional 26,074 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,025,000 after acquiring an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,060,000 after purchasing an additional 41,308 shares during the period. Parsifal Capital Management LP purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth about $21,165,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,611,000 after buying an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on UNH shares. Barclays decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $463.69 on Thursday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $517.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $558.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $426.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $5.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. The trade was a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company 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.