UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Shares Down 15.3% Following Analyst Downgrade

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)’s stock price traded down 15.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $515.00 to $350.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. UnitedHealth Group traded as low as $248.88 and last traded at $260.99. 58,975,475 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 1,001% from the average session volume of 5,358,403 shares. The stock had previously closed at $308.01.

UNH has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Raymond James downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $563.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $677.00 to $351.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $486.00.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley bought 86,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. This represents a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John F. Rex bought 17,175 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $291.12 per share, with a total value of $4,999,986.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 203,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. This trade represents a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 5,583,343 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,537,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,839 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the 4th 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 boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,899,905,000 after purchasing an additional 906,365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth $6,375,744,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 6.2%

The firm has a market capitalization of $264.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $470.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $513.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.91 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.18%.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.