LaFleur & Godfrey LLC Lowers Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

LaFleur & Godfrey LLC lowered its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,357 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 57 shares during the quarter. LaFleur & Godfrey LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $2,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during the first 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 during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,039,601 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,094,247,000 after purchasing an additional 35,533 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 30.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,816,254 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,942,956,000 after buying an additional 880,183 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,772,487 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,920,039,000 after acquiring an additional 21,149 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on UNH shares. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $580.00 to $610.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. KeyCorp started coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $560.00 to $604.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $615.16.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UNH opened at $571.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $527.55 billion, a PE ratio of 37.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $584.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $532.84.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.00 by $0.15. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 3.66%. The business had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.68 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.70%.

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.