5,436 Shares in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH Purchased by Blueshift Asset Management LLC

Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 5,436 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $1,696,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of UNH. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 176.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 44,249 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $22,384,000 after acquiring an additional 28,231 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 137.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,033,000 after purchasing an additional 2,324 shares in the last quarter. Ted Buchan & Co grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.0% during the first quarter. Ted Buchan & Co now owns 5,900 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,090,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 685.7% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 55 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 122,145 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $63,973,000 after acquiring an additional 4,871 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on UNH shares. Zacks Research upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $333.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $317.00 to $409.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.12.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE:UNH opened at $323.36 on Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $234.60 and a twelve month high of $622.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $292.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $343.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $315.29.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $0.05. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.The company had revenue of $113.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.19 billion. The firm’s revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 46.14%.

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.