Farther Finance Advisors LLC Increases Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 12,531 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 332 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $7,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 44.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 265 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 20.6% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,867 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $5,376,000 after acquiring an additional 1,857 shares during the last quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,807 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,389,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. Janney Capital Management LLC now owns 26,489 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $13,104,000 after purchasing an additional 4,416 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,045 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on UNH shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Argus lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $481.00 to $647.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH stock opened at $567.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $581.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $541.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $524.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.97, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $608.63.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The business had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $6.56 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 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.