MFA Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

MFA Wealth Advisors LLC cut its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 30.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 216 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 96 shares during the quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RAM Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 5.6% during the third quarter. RAM Investment Partners LLC now owns 450 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% during the third quarter. Fulcrum Capital LLC now owns 19,359 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,319,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 36,033 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $21,068,000 after buying an additional 1,583 shares during the last quarter. Courier Capital LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 233.1% in the 3rd quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 4,161 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,433,000 after acquiring an additional 2,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Detalus Advisors LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 1,673 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $978,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNH has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $632.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $604.00 to $603.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $564.48 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $584.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $536.49. The company has a market cap of $521.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $608.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.00 by $0.15. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The firm had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.56 EPS. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio 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.