Capital Advantage Inc. Takes $237,000 Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Capital Advantage Inc. bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 469 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,068,869,000 after purchasing an additional 319,515 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,899,905,000 after buying an additional 906,365 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,375,744,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,503,671 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,807,527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058,488 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,923,770 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,514,178,000 after purchasing an additional 861,854 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on UNH. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $650.00 to $575.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Raymond James restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $540.00 price objective (down from $635.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $664.00 to $563.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Argus lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $596.86.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $395.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $493.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $526.12. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a one year low of $393.11 and a one year high of $630.73. The stock has a market cap of $359.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. 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 (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.91 EPS. Equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 35.18%.

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.