UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Price Target Lowered to $385.00 at UBS Group

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its price target cut by UBS Group from $400.00 to $385.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and issued a $270.00 target price (down previously from $490.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Robert W. Baird cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $312.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $405.00 to $418.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. TD Cowen lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $308.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, May 19th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $308.00 price objective (down previously from $520.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.57.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE:UNH opened at $308.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $280.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.93, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $336.21 and its 200-day moving average is $454.51. UnitedHealth Group has a 52-week low of $248.88 and a 52-week high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share 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 net margin of 5.39% and a return on equity of 26.29%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.91 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were issued a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 16th. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 37.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Patrick Hugh Conway sold 589 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $179,645.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 10,398 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,171,390. The trade was a 5.36% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,533 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $320.80 per share, for a total transaction of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. This represents a 34.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in UNH. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth $6,375,744,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $4,344,586,000 after acquiring an additional 8,280,404 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 1st quarter valued at $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $47,519,620,000 after acquiring an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $1,914,740,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.