UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Shares Sold by BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. reduced its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 392,316 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 108,140 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $229,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 8.1% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 193,605 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $113,197,000 after acquiring an additional 14,537 shares in the last quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 5.2% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 50,403 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $29,470,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 6.4% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 43,036 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $25,162,000 after buying an additional 2,600 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 10.1% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,887 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,688,000 after buying an additional 265 shares during the period. Finally, Altman Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth about $1,787,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on UNH. Hsbc Global Res lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $604.00 to $603.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised 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. 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $600.50 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $582.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $551.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $552.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.00 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.56 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.