Lafayette Investments Inc. Has $409,000 Stock Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Lafayette Investments Inc. lowered its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 24.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 700 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 225 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in UNH. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 152.4% in the third quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 53 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 671.4% during the second quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 54 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 757.1% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 60 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on UNH. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $632.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $560.82 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $584.16 and a 200-day moving average of $536.49. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $608.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $517.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.58.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $6.56 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.72%.

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.