Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Has $70.53 Million Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC cut its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) by 47.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 139,422 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock after selling 124,232 shares during the quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $70,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 220,590 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $128,975,000 after buying an additional 26,074 shares in the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $4,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $26,060,000 after purchasing an additional 41,308 shares during the period. Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter worth about $21,165,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $4,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the subject of a number of research reports. HSBC upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $595.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen raised their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:UNH traded down $4.19 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $538.29. 2,736,742 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,677,051. The stock has a market cap of $495.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $539.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $565.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $5.83 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group's payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.