UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Trading 1.6% Higher – Here’s Why

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) traded up 1.6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $594.81 and last traded at $592.96. 1,072,457 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 5,082,370 shares. The stock had previously closed at $583.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on UNH shares. Erste Group Bank raised shares of UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial increased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $632.85.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 22.0 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $514.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $541.53. The firm has a market cap of $417.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced 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 company had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $6.91 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 54.19%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in UNH. M&T Bank Corp increased its position 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 last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% during the 4th 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. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the period. Waycross Partners LLC raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Waycross Partners LLC now owns 27,794 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $14,060,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 199,536 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $100,937,000 after purchasing an additional 11,426 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

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.