Valley Wealth Managers Inc. Decreases Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Valley Wealth Managers Inc. decreased its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,073 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 125 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 20.6% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,867 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $5,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,857 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 5.5% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 4,196 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,076,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter worth approximately $201,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 39.9% during the 1st quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 10,451 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $5,170,000 after purchasing an additional 2,981 shares during the period. Finally, Patten & Patten Inc. TN grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the first quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 39,750 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $19,664,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $604.00 to $603.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH opened at $592.18 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $582.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $549.06. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $436.38 and a 12 month high of $630.73. The company has a market cap of $544.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.58, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $100.82 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.56 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.72%.

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.