Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC Grows Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,351 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the period. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $4,883,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during 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 last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during 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 last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during 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 last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 valued at $3,096,896,000 after buying an additional 5,290,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position 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 worth $1,942,956,000 after purchasing an additional 880,183 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on UNH. Argus upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. HSBC lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $481.00 to $647.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 target price for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $560.82 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $608.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $584.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $536.49. The stock has a market cap of $517.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.54, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.58.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued 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 net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.56 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.