UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Shares Acquired by River Road Asset Management LLC

River Road Asset Management LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 49.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 62,224 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,559 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $31,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $341,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,778,636 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,039,933,000 after buying an additional 180,479 shares during the period. Tyler Stone Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 154.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 1,279 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $748,000 after buying an additional 776 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 128.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 2,524 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,476,000 after buying an additional 1,419 shares during the period. Finally, New Jersey Better Educational Savings Trust purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $214,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on UNH shares. Stephens lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of UNH stock opened at $479.14 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $513.21 and a two-hundred day moving average of $552.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $438.28 billion, a PE ratio of 30.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.83 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.19%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

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.