Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS Reduces Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS lessened its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 4.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,097 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after selling 1,345 shares during the quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $17,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter worth $2,905,000. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.2% in the third quarter. Asset Planning Services Inc. LA ADV now owns 12,465 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,976 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $14,603,000 after purchasing an additional 3,006 shares during the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.8% in the third quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 20,377 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,914,000 after buying an additional 1,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concord Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $14,544,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $625.00 price objective (down from $640.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $481.00 to $647.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Stephens decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $632.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock traded up $4.85 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $601.54. 421,394 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,883,911. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week 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 $555.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.58. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $581.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $543.74.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.72%.

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.