UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after Wolfe Research lowered their price target on the stock from $501.00 to $390.00. The stock had previously closed at $321.58, but opened at $301.00. Wolfe Research currently has an outperform rating on the stock. UnitedHealth Group shares last traded at $306.79, with a volume of 12,641,136 shares trading hands.

UNH has been the subject of several other research reports. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $510.00 to $356.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $490.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $441.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley acquired 86,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,533 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $320.80 per share, for a total transaction of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. This trade represents a 34.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth about $6,375,744,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,295,153 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,344,586,000 after buying an additional 8,280,404 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 1st quarter worth about $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth about $1,914,740,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 5.8%

The firm has a market capitalization of $274.93 billion, a PE ratio of 19.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. 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’s 50-day moving average is $460.62 and its 200 day moving average is $508.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $6.91 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 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.