MFA Wealth Services Invests $512,000 in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

MFA Wealth Services acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,011 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $512,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,096,896,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,025 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 9,235.4% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 784,924 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $458,929,000 after purchasing an additional 776,516 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,361,396 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,380,661,000 after acquiring an additional 587,088 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 129.7% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,029,540 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $601,951,000 after acquiring an additional 581,324 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,626,387,000 after acquiring an additional 563,554 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. HSBC raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $627.74.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $532.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $542.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $563.54. The company has a market capitalization of $489.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.34, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.83 earnings per share. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

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.