Edgar Lomax Co. VA Trims Stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Edgar Lomax Co. VA lowered its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 29,755 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 590 shares during the period. Edgar Lomax Co. VA’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $15,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the 4th 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 purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter worth about $6,375,744,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 861,854 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,931,478 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,012,218,000 after purchasing an additional 36,394 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, HSBC raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $632.85.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 22.0 %

NYSE UNH opened at $456.10 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $417.20 billion, a PE ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $438.50 and a 52 week high of $630.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $512.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $540.65.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The company had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.19%.

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.