UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Shares Down 0.7%

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) shares fell 0.7% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $517.00 and last traded at $517.66. 605,520 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 4,160,368 shares. The stock had previously closed at $521.35.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on UNH. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $607.00 to $546.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $545.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $534.00 to $560.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $570.05.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.9 %

The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $488.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $511.10. The company has a market capitalization of $475.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $6.63 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $99.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.23 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 26.50%. The business's revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.6 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $1.88 per share. This represents a $7.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. UnitedHealth Group's payout ratio is currently 45.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total transaction of $451,127.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,289 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,977,233.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other UnitedHealth Group news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total value of $451,127.82. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,289 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $16,977,233.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of the 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. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of UNH. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,405,255 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $41,755,280,000 after purchasing an additional 544,740 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,062,928 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $12,893,331,000 after purchasing an additional 94,641 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,220,234 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $12,715,790,000 after purchasing an additional 527,526 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 15,122,203 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $7,961,369,000 after acquiring an additional 324,733 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 11,860,985 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $6,244,158,000 after acquiring an additional 542,424 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.