Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Increases Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 653,503 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,251 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $382,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 3.6% during the third quarter. Boston Family Office LLC now owns 5,191 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,035,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during the third quarter. Bedell Frazier Investment Counselling LLC now owns 16,293 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $9,526,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Bank of Hawaii raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 108.0% in the third quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 4,263 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,213 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,197,167 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,869,320,000 after purchasing an additional 107,097 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 16.1% in the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 208,493 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $121,902,000 after buying an additional 28,850 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America dropped 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. KeyCorp began coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $590.87 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $582.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $553.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $543.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 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. The firm had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The business’s revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $6.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.72%.

UnitedHealth Group Company 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.