Piper Sandler Cuts UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Price Target to $353.00

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by stock analysts at Piper Sandler from $552.00 to $353.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the healthcare conglomerate's stock. Piper Sandler's price target indicates a potential upside of 17.52% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $563.00 to $374.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Hsbc Global Res cut UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Erste Group Bank cut UnitedHealth Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Argus downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $428.43.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH stock traded down $0.85 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $300.37. 11,204,771 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,909,841. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. UnitedHealth Group has a 1 year low of $248.88 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $422.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $489.42. The company has a market cap of $272.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The business had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $6.91 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,533 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. This trade represents a 34.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley acquired 86,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 679,493 shares of the company's stock, valued at $196,081,295.01. This represents a 14.63% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $47,519,620,000 after purchasing an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $13,537,859,000 after buying an additional 2,486,839 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $10,068,869,000 after purchasing an additional 319,515 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $7,899,905,000 after acquiring an additional 906,365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,375,744,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.