Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,272 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,096,896,000 after buying an additional 5,290,025 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,117,462,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 107.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,306,729 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,141,113,000 after buying an additional 1,196,758 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $480,903,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 30.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,816,254 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,942,956,000 after purchasing an additional 880,183 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. HSBC downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group cut their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $481.00 to $647.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNH stock opened at $615.81 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $581.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $545.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $566.72 billion, a PE ratio of 40.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $619.80.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.00 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The business’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.56 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 54.72%.

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.