Cullen Investment Group LTD. Purchases 2,866 Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated $UNH

Cullen Investment Group LTD. boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 18.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,242 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,866 shares during the period. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $6,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 85,197 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $29,419,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $756,000. Mirador Capital Partners LP lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 28.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 1,357 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Graves Light Lenhart Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 18.5% in the third quarter. Graves Light Lenhart Wealth Inc. now owns 2,039 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $704,000 after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78.7% during the third quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 5,649 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,951,000 after buying an additional 2,487 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on UNH. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $317.00 to $409.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $406.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $286.00 to $408.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $310.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Seventeen 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. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $385.54.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH opened at $334.37 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $338.90 and a 200 day moving average of $317.74. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $234.60 and a fifty-two week high of $606.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $302.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82.

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

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.14%.

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.