UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH – Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after Piper Sandler lowered their price target on the stock from $584.00 to $581.00. The stock had previously closed at $524.94, but opened at $505.23. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the stock. UnitedHealth Group shares last traded at $501.79, with a volume of 1,721,693 shares trading hands.
Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $596.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, November 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $587.00 to $579.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 23rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $520.00 to $640.00 in a report on Monday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $565.00 to $503.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $575.79.
Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group
In other news, Director Stephen J. Hemsley sold 66,081 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.39, for a total value of $36,370,321.59. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 635,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $349,788,255.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group
A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 97,436.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 1,029,274,230 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $494,710,366,000 after buying an additional 1,028,218,963 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 46,313,751 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $22,260,241,000 after purchasing an additional 764,872 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,220,234 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $12,715,790,000 after purchasing an additional 527,526 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,546,024 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,410,038,000 after acquiring an additional 444,629 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,635,038 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,289,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,893,192 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 85.69% of the company’s stock.
UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $536.18 and its 200-day moving average is $514.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $464.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.02, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.56.
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.98 by $0.18. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 26.39%. The business had revenue of $94.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $92.13 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $5.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 4th were given a $1.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 1st. This represents a $7.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 31.54%.
About UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. It 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.