PDS Planning Inc Sells 388 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

PDS Planning Inc cut its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 8.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,435 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 388 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,593,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of UNH. World Equity Group Inc. boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 9.8% in the third quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 993 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Leeward Financial Partners LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.4% during 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. raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.7% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 184,080 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $107,628,000 after acquiring an additional 4,917 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 487,929 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $285,282,000 after purchasing an additional 7,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position 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 valued at $996,622,000 after purchasing an additional 222,486 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on UNH shares. KeyCorp began coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lowered their target price 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. Hsbc Global Res downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $481.00 to $647.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of UNH traded down $8.96 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $558.60. 426,478 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,882,975. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $581.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $542.45. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $436.38 and a 12 month 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 stock has a market cap of $515.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.58.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.56 EPS. Research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.72%.

UnitedHealth Group 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.