Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Purchases 176,543 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 29.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 783,143 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 176,543 shares during the period. UnitedHealth Group makes up 1.4% of Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $457,888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delta Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,650 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $965,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Saxony Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Saxony Capital Management LLC now owns 530 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 3,124 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,591,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the second quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, First PREMIER Bank increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 274 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $160,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $626.84.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.0 %

UNH opened at $520.68 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $581.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $559.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $479.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.56 EPS. UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. 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.