UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Now Covered by Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, The Fly reports. The firm issued an overweight rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock.

UNH has been the subject of several other research reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and set a $610.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. They issued an overweight rating and a $591.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $617.00 to $627.00 in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $590.00 to $600.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a strong-buy rating and set a $630.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $600.19.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH opened at $477.70 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $444.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $489.68 and a 200-day moving average of $499.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. UnitedHealth Group has a 1 year low of $449.70 and a 1 year high of $558.10.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.24 by $0.02. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 27.05% and a net margin of 6.16%. The business had revenue of $91.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group will post 24.98 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 10th. This represents a $6.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Andrew Witty sold 6,160 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $487.49, for a total transaction of $3,002,938.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,199,084.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other UnitedHealth Group news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,008 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $484.58, for a total value of $488,456.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,019,764.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Andrew Witty sold 6,160 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.49, for a total value of $3,002,938.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 86,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,199,084.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,852 shares of company stock worth $4,313,962 in the last ninety days. 0.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Chelsea Counsel Co. purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 25 LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, O Dell Group LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 76.9% during the third quarter. O Dell Group LLC now owns 69 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.31% of the company’s stock.

About UnitedHealth Group

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UnitedHealth Group, Inc engages in the provision of health care coverage, software, and data consultancy services. It operates through the following segments: UnitedHealthcare, OptumHealth, OptumInsight, and OptumRx. The UnitedHealthcare segment utilizes Optum’s capabilities to help coordinate patient care, improve affordability of medical care, analyze cost trends, manage pharmacy benefits, work with care providers more effectively, and create a simpler consumer experience.