Tower Bridge Advisors Has $16.97 Million Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Tower Bridge Advisors reduced its stake in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.6% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 29,023 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 170 shares during the quarter. UnitedHealth Group accounts for about 1.8% of Tower Bridge Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Tower Bridge Advisors’ holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $16,969,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,905,000. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.2% during the third quarter. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV now owns 12,465 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,976 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $14,603,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 20,377 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,914,000 after purchasing an additional 1,984 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 14.8% during the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,960 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,072,000 after buying an additional 1,283 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. HSBC lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price objective for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $592.23 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $582.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $549.52. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $545.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.58.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.56 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.72%.

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.