Victory Capital Management Inc. Reduces Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 604,951 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 24,666 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.07% of UnitedHealth Group worth $353,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth $27,000. Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 671.4% during the 2nd quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 54 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 757.1% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 60 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares during the period. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 152.4% in the third quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 53 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on UNH shares. 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 note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $481.00 to $647.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock traded down $7.29 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $617.96. 894,501 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,888,270. 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 company has a market capitalization of $568.70 billion, a PE ratio of 40.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The business has a fifty day moving average of $582.63 and a 200 day moving average of $546.78.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.56 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend 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.