Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its “Artisan Focus Fund” first quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The first quarter was volatile, and macro-driven, the fund’s Investor Class fund ARTTX returned 3.34%, Advisor Class fund APDTX posted a return of 3.39%, and Institutional Class fund APHTX returned 3.38%, compared to a return of 7.50% for the S&P 500 Index. In addition, please check the fund’s top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023.
Artisan Focus Fund highlighted 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 June 22, 2023, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) stock closed at $479.05 per share. One-month return of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was 0.28%, and its shares lost 4.15% of their value over the last 52 weeks. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) has a market capitalization of $446.011 billion.
Artisan Focus Fund made the following comment about UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in its first quarter 2023 investor letter:
“UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) and Elevance (ELV), two of our managed care positions that reside in our Data Monetization theme, faced particularly acute pressure in Q1. After being top contributors in 2022, the positions were a headwind in Q1 2023. We believe there were a few main drivers of the underperformance and remain optimistic about the path forward. Two regulatory items arose in Q1, both of which we feel are immaterial to our broader thesis. First, a federal audit test for billing accuracy initiated five years ago ultimately revealed very little billing inadequacies at larger insurers but created short-term sentiment headwinds. The “RADV” (Risk Adjustment Data Validation) was finalized on January 30 with very little impact or fallout. Second, Medicare Advantage rate determinations were softer than expected. That is, advanced notice rate growth came in lower than expected, which weighed on the stocks. However, our view has remained unchanged as we believe the program maintains excellent standing. We believe the rate update simply kept the industry near its long-term trendline after some strong years. This view was reinforced at the close on the last day of Q1, as rates were effectively revised higher and the Biden administration committed to “protecting and strengthening Medicare”—a good sign, in our view.
Nevertheless, our overarching view of structural winners being closely tied to their ability to reduce the overall cost of health care remains unchanged. We believe that we have differentiated earnings over the next three years and well above market growth that should position our portfolio to exceed the growth of the S&P 500® Index.”
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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, 116 hedge fund portfolios held UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) at the end of first quarter 2023 which was 110 in the previous quarter.
We discussed UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) in another article and shared Mairs & Power Growth Fund’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 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.
