Buckingham Capital Management Inc. Reduces Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 6.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,777 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,674 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group accounts for approximately 1.6% of Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $13,902,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,405,255 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $41,755,280,000 after buying an additional 544,740 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,062,928 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $12,893,331,000 after acquiring an additional 94,641 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,039,601 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,094,247,000 after buying an additional 35,533 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,096,896,000 after acquiring an additional 5,290,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 30.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,816,254 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,942,956,000 after acquiring an additional 880,183 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on UNH shares. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $604.00 to $603.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Argus increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. KeyCorp began coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $620.77 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.88. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $621.19. The company has a fifty day moving average of $581.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $545.85. The company has a market capitalization of $571.28 billion, a PE ratio of 40.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.58.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $6.56 earnings per share. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.