UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shot up 0.6% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $498.00 and last traded at $497.42. 1,274,317 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 4,349,169 shares. The stock had previously closed at $494.38.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $605.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $591.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $570.05.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.3 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $481.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $512.16. The firm has a market cap of $460.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.55.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.63 by $0.28. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 26.50%. The company had revenue of $99.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $6.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bray Capital Advisors raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the third quarter. Bray Capital Advisors now owns 9,616 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,848,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 3,528 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,779,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.9% in the third quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 105,860 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $53,374,000 after purchasing an additional 3,023 shares during the period. Vantage Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 84,324 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $42,515,000 after buying an additional 9,979 shares during the period. Finally, Telemus Capital LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 2.6% during the third quarter. Telemus Capital LLC now owns 19,338 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $9,750,000 after buying an additional 491 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

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.