Aviance Capital Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 318.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,771 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,870 shares during the quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,860,515 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $44,150,045,000 after acquiring an additional 250,291 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,220,234 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $12,715,790,000 after purchasing an additional 527,526 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,122,203 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,961,369,000 after purchasing an additional 324,733 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,860,985 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $6,244,158,000 after buying an additional 542,424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,802,231,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on UNH shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $618.00 to $584.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $545.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $534.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE:UNH traded down $5.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $504.00. 1,014,773 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,273,136. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $498.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $501.63. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 12 month low of $436.38 and a 12 month high of $554.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $463.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.63 by $0.28. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.50% and a net margin of 4.05%. The company had revenue of $99.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.26 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.67%. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 17th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.34%.

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.