LS Investment Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

LS Investment Advisors LLC lessened its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,660 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 825 shares during the quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,905,000. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV now owns 12,465 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 13.7% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,976 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $14,603,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares during the period. Americana Partners LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 10.8% during the third quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 20,377 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,914,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,960 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,072,000 after acquiring an additional 1,283 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Stephens lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $632.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $604.00 to $603.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $605.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $557.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $608.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $581.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $543.74.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. The business 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 company’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.56 EPS. On average, analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. 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.