1. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)
Number of Hedge Fund Holdings in Q1 2026: 130
First Appeared In 13F Holdings: Q4 2010
Latest Stake: $24.3 million
David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management has held a stake in health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)’s shares since the fourth quarter of 2010. It held the shares until the second quarter of 2011. Then, the fund disclosed 300,000 shares for its Q1 2017 holdings. Since then, it has continuously held UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)’s shares. The holdings peaked during Q2 2025 when it held 2.4 million shares, which were worth $764 million. Since then, they have dropped, and the latest stake is worth $24.3 million.
Investment bank JPMorgan discussed UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)’s shares on June 8th. It raised the share price target to $466 from $420 and kept an Overweight rating on the stock. The coverage came as part of the bank’s update of its healthcare services models, which included a higher valuation.
SGA Global Growth Strategy discussed UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in its Q1 2026 investor letter:
“Our position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was based on our view that the company would deliver durable growth due to its ability to manage the rising healthcare costs given its scale advantages. We viewed the business as having strong pricing power given its vertical integration with Optum, which gave them good tools to manage medical costs, as well as the ability to raise premiums annually. The privatization of government-funded senior health plans, Medicare Advantage, provided a growth opportunity. Over 2025 the stock suffered due to execution missteps which were exacerbated by government payment cuts to Medicare Advantage programs which were initiated under the Biden administration. Despite these issues we held on to the position under the expectation that they would be able to re-price their health insurance policies in the following year, and that execution would improve with the return of Stephen Hemsley as CEO. We had also thought that a change in administration would be beneficial for the company given Republican’s historical support of Medicare privatization. However, when the CMS released their preliminary rate for 2027 this quarter of just 0.1%, we, and the market, were disappointed. While the final rate has since been revised higher to 2.5%, this is still below the mid-single digit rate expectations and cost inflation trends. Additionally, in the latest communication, while the company was able to re-price most of its insurance businesses, the greater than expected membership losses as well as the slower profitability improvement at Optum were disappointing, indicating a more mature Medicare Advantage market and increased competition. Given these developments we decided to exit the position and re-allocate the capital into higher conviction growth opportunities. The company has since been removed from the Qualified Company List.”
While we acknowledge the potential of UNH to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than UNH and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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