ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its “ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy” first quarter 2024 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The Strategy outperformed its benchmark, the Russell 1000 Growth Index, in the quarter due to active management of its mega-cap exposure and strong stock selection in the growth universe. The Strategy posted gains across the 10 sectors in which it was invested, on an absolute basis. Overall stock selection contributed to performance on a relative basis. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2024.
ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy featured stocks like UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in the first 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 April 4, 2024, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) stock closed at $455.38 per share. One-month return of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was -4.45%, and its shares lost 11.20% of their value over the last 52 weeks. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) has a market capitalization of $419.83 billion.
ClearBridge Large Cap Growth Strategy stated the following regarding UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Given our view that the overall market looks expensive, mostly due to mega cap valuations, the low likelihood that technology can continue to deliver well above market returns and an expected slowdown in economic growth, risk management has guided our recent positioning activity. We have been consistently trimming from the select bucket and redeploying into undervalued stable and cyclical names, while also being cognizant of position sizing to maintain the latitude to add to names when prices become attractive.
We were also active in adding to stable bucket investments PayPal and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) where negative near-term sentiment led to more attractive risk/reward profiles. We added to electronic payments provider PayPal as we have growing confidence that new CEO Alex Chriss’s strategic focus areas can improve the company’s performance, particularly in the key branded business. We added to our UnitedHealth position after shares were pressured due to fears over competition among managed care providers and rising medical loss ratios in the industry. We believe the company will be able to “re-price” for higher medical costs, making this pressure transitory and we see competitive concerns as overblown.”
A senior healthcare professional giving advice to a patient in a clinic.
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is in 20th position on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. At the end of the fourth quarter, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was held by 113 hedge fund portfolios, compared to 104 in the previous quarter, according to our database.
We discussed UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in another article and shared the list of stocks Jim Cramer is talking about. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2024 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.
