UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Holdings Lifted by Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.

Symphony Financial Ltd. Co. lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 12.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,640 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 740 shares during the period. Symphony Financial Ltd. Co.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $3,870,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,405,255 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $41,755,280,000 after buying an additional 544,740 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 94,641 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,039,601 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,094,247,000 after buying an additional 35,533 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,942,956,000 after buying an additional 880,183 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,772,487 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,920,039,000 after buying an additional 21,149 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $569.98 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $584.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $536.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.88. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $608.63. The company has a market capitalization of $526.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.58.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.00 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.56 EPS. Analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.47%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America cut their target price 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. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $597.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, HSBC lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $615.53.

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.