Parthenon LLC Takes Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Parthenon LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 486 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $284,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Delta Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,650 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $965,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 40.0% during the second quarter. Signature Resources Capital Management LLC now owns 63 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Saxony Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% in the second 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 boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 3,124 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,591,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Group LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 1.0 %

UnitedHealth Group stock traded down $6.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $608.34. 608,131 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,882,065. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $582.95 and its 200 day moving average is $547.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $630.73. The company has a market capitalization of $559.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.07, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.58.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.56 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 1.38%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. 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.