UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) have been given an average rating of “Buy” by the twenty-two brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nineteen have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $629.32.

UNH has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Hsbc Global Res raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stephens boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, January 17th.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $461.09 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $518.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $559.70. UnitedHealth Group has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $630.73. The company has a market capitalization of $424.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.75, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.19%.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 13.4% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 220,590 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $128,975,000 after buying an additional 26,074 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,025,000 after buying an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1,275.3% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 44,547 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,060,000 after purchasing an additional 41,308 shares in the last quarter. Parsifal Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth $21,165,000. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,051 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.