Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Decreases Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC decreased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,592 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 546 shares during the quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 7.2% during the second quarter. Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. now owns 184,925 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $94,175,000 after acquiring an additional 12,372 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 337,254 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $171,750,000 after purchasing an additional 3,348 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 47.4% during the second quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 26,302 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,394,000 after buying an additional 8,458 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 4.6% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 62,584 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $31,872,000 after acquiring an additional 2,775 shares during the period. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 39,031 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $19,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,770 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on UNH. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday. Stephens upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $627.74.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $510.03 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $551.50 and its 200 day moving average is $562.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $469.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.23, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.