UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Trading Up 3.4% - Should You Buy?

Shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) shot up 3.4% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $323.50 and last traded at $322.61. 5,682,176 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 23% from the average session volume of 7,411,043 shares. The stock had previously closed at $311.97.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on UNH. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $563.00 to $374.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $450.00 to $400.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Barclays lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group to $350.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Robert W. Baird cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $312.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $415.57.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $295.57 billion, a PE ratio of 13.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $331.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $451.20.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 5.39%. The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $111.56 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $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 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. This is an increase from UnitedHealth Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. UnitedHealth Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Kristen Gil acquired 3,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $271.17 per share, with a total value of $1,003,329.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 3,818 shares in the company, valued at $1,035,327.06. This trade represents a 3,135.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley bought 86,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was purchased 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 directly owned 679,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. This trade represents a 14.63% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768 over the last ninety days. 0.28% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $10,068,869,000 after acquiring an additional 319,515 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $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 about $6,375,744,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently 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.