UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Given Hold Rating at TD Securities

TD Securities reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Free Report) in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $308.00 price objective on the healthcare conglomerate's stock, down from their previous price objective of $520.00.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Mizuho reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $405.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $563.00 to $374.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. HSBC reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $490.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $441.87.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 4.6%

UNH traded down $14.79 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $306.79. 12,641,136 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,300,519. The firm has a market capitalization of $278.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $464.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $510.17. UnitedHealth Group has a 1-year low of $248.88 and a 1-year high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $109.58 billion for 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 last year, the company posted $6.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.74%. UnitedHealth Group's payout ratio is 35.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director John H. Noseworthy purchased 300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $312.16 per share, with a total value of $93,648.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,063 shares in the company, valued at $1,892,626.08. This trade represents a 5.21% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,533 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was bought 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 in the company, 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. Insiders have bought 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,375,744,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $4,344,586,000 after acquiring an additional 8,280,404 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during 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 buying an additional 5,583,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth $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.