Northwest Bancshares Inc. Sells 477 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Northwest Bancshares Inc. decreased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 21.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,719 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 477 shares during the quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of UNH. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,096,896,000 after acquiring an additional 5,290,025 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter worth $1,117,462,000. Lone Pine Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter worth $480,903,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 30.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 880,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1,125.4% during the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 894,006 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $455,281,000 after acquiring an additional 821,050 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Stephens decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $632.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $576.93 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $530.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $582.31 and its 200-day moving average is $551.25. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $630.73. 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 released its 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. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The business had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.56 earnings per share. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 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.