UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Shares Up 1.8% After Analyst Upgrade

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shot up 1.8% during mid-day trading on Friday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on the stock from $545.00 to $562.00. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the stock. UnitedHealth Group traded as high as $504.75 and last traded at $502.10. 1,872,487 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 4,485,528 shares. The stock had previously closed at $493.18.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on UNH. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $600.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $534.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $570.05.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.48, for a total value of $597,581.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,306.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total transaction of $451,127.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,977,233.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.48, for a total transaction of $597,581.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,527,306.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 72,689 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $35,126,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 19,623 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $9,709,000 after acquiring an additional 2,755 shares in the last quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,385 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,675,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. GenTrust LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. GenTrust LLC now owns 1,320 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $653,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Veracity Capital LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,335 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $660,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $462.01 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $488.63 and its 200-day moving average is $515.17.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.63 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $99.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.23 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 26.50%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.26 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a $1.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $7.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.97%.

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.