UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Trading Up 0.6% – Here’s Why

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shares were up 0.6% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $321.90 and last traded at $317.76. Approximately 16,050,941 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 161% from the average daily volume of 6,147,651 shares. The stock had previously closed at $315.89.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on UNH shares. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $490.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. TD Cowen cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $308.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $575.00 to $450.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $451.43.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $293.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $467.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $511.49.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley acquired 86,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $196,081,295.01. This represents a 14.63% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,533 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,386.40. This represents a 34.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of UNH. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $47,519,620,000 after purchasing an additional 5,583,343 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $13,537,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,839 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,068,869,000 after purchasing an additional 319,515 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,899,905,000 after purchasing an additional 906,365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $6,375,744,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

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.