Baron Funds, an investment management company, released its “Baron Health Care Fund” third quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The fund declined 6.05% (Institutional Shares) in the quarter compared to a 3.88% loss for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index and a 3.27% loss for the S&P 500 Index. Year-to-date through September 30, 2023, the fund declined 1.17%, compared to a 3.83% decline for the Russell 3000 Health Care Index and a 13.07% increase for the S&P 500 Index. The combination of stock selection and active sub-industry weights drove the underperformance of the fund in the quarter. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Baron Health Care Fund highlighted stocks like UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the third quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is a diversified healthcare company that operates through UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx segments. On October 19, 2023, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) stock closed at $531.63 per share. One-month return of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was 5.04%, and its shares lost 0.39% of their value over the last 52 weeks. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) has a market capitalization of $492.452 billion.
Baron Health Care Fund made the following comment about UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in its Q3 2023 investor letter:
“UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is a diversified health and well-being company with $200 billion in revenue that operates across four segments, United Healthcare, Optum Health, OptumInsight, and OptumRX, serving 134 million individuals in all 50 states and more than 125 countries. Shares increased on a second quarter upside surprise, including an EPS beat and medical loss ratio of 82.3%, 30 basis points better than investors had feared after management’s warning of higher Medicare Advantage utilization. Investors were also reassured by management confidence that it had priced to trend, which it backed up by raising the low end of 2023 guidance. We remain positive on this market-leading managed care company with revenue twice that of its closest competitor. The company continues to gain Medicare Advantage share given attractive and stable benefits and could achieve greater profitability as medical management is deployed across newer, higher acuity lives. We believe UnitedHealth has a broad number of levers at its command and can sustainably deliver 13% to 16% annual long-term earnings growth.”
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UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is in 16th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 111 hedge fund portfolios held UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) at the end of second quarter which was 116 in the previous quarter.
We discussed UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in another article and shared best health insurance stocks to buy. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.