Rise Advisors LLC Purchases 481 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Rise Advisors LLC grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 225.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 694 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Paralel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Paralel Advisors LLC now owns 4,047 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,040,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter valued at $278,000. Regal Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,215 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,621,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,095,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 11.1% during the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 742,581 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $374,528,000 after buying an additional 74,446 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $596.00 to $555.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Barclays increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $534.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $597.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $545.00 to $562.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $579.74.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $484.62 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $554.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $446.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $496.12 and a 200-day moving average price of $504.71.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Investors of record on Monday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.88. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 17th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.