Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 58,146 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 8,966 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $18,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $47,519,620,000 after purchasing an additional 5,583,343 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $13,537,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,839 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,128,174 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,257,131,000 after purchasing an additional 196,696 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 1st quarter worth about $3,846,764,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,070,385 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,702,736,000 after purchasing an additional 847,054 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $344.57 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a twelve month low of $234.60 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $312.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $342.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $331.10.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $0.05. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.The business had revenue of $113.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $113.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $7.15 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on UNH. Leerink Partners set a $410.00 price target on UnitedHealth Group and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $198.00 price target (down from $312.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $325.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $317.00 to $409.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.12.

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.