World Equity Group Inc. Buys 89 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

World Equity Group Inc. grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 9.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 993 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $580,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Leeward Financial Partners LLC lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.4% in the third quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,486 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,454,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 2.7% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 184,080 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $107,628,000 after buying an additional 4,917 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 487,929 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $285,282,000 after buying an additional 7,933 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 15.0% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,704,560 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $996,622,000 after buying an additional 222,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cohen Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% in the third quarter. Cohen Capital Management Inc. now owns 50,325 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $29,424,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on UNH shares. Stephens lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $632.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Argus boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE UNH traded down $8.96 during trading on Monday, reaching $558.60. The company had a trading volume of 426,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,882,975. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $608.63. The stock has a market cap of $515.82 billion, a PE ratio of 36.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s 50-day moving average is $581.96 and its 200 day moving average is $542.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $99.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.56 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.72%.

UnitedHealth Group Company Profile

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.