Commonwealth Financial Services LLC Grows Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Commonwealth Financial Services LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 9.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 795 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $464,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the first 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 raised its stake in 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 valued at $12,893,331,000 after buying an additional 94,641 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during 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 buying an additional 35,533 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased 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 worth $1,942,956,000 after purchasing an additional 880,183 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on UNH shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $481.00 to $647.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $560.82 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $584.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $536.49. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $608.63. The company has a market capitalization of $517.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.54, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The business had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.56 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.72%.

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.