Capital Investment Advisors LLC Increases Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 25,296 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,582 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $12,796,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lyell Wealth Management LP boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 8,556 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,357,000 after buying an additional 985 shares during the period. Vista Capital Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 639 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Seven Mile Advisory boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 5.5% in the second quarter. Seven Mile Advisory now owns 1,726 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $879,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 2nd quarter worth $6,818,000. Finally, Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.7% during the second quarter. Wilkins Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,870 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,462,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on UNH shares. Stephens upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. HSBC raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $626.79.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH stock traded up $22.07 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $542.76. 2,789,927 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,940,650. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $555.25 and its 200 day moving average is $562.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The stock has a market cap of $499.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.36, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.00 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.56 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was 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.