UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Stock Price Up 1.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• UnitedHealth Group stock rose 1.7% after Bank of America upgraded its price target from $350 to $390, maintaining a neutral rating.
• Several brokerages have varying target prices for the stock, with Sanford C. Bernstein setting a new target of $433 and Baird R W issuing a "strong sell" rating.
• UnitedHealth recently declared a quarterly dividend of $2.21 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.4%.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) rose 1.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $350.00 to $390.00. Bank of America currently has a neutral rating on the stock. UnitedHealth Group traded as high as $374.63 and last traded at $369.88. Approximately 9,388,000 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 26% from the average daily volume of 12,742,243 shares. The stock had previously closed at $363.66.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on UNH. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $379.00 to $433.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Baird R W cut UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $400.00 to $325.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $337.00 to $352.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $372.68.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew 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 valued at $13,537,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,839 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,312,182 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $6,624,411,000 after buying an additional 675,075 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,837,207,000. Finally, Dodge & Cox lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 117.7% in the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 8,750,560 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $2,729,912,000 after purchasing an additional 4,730,192 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company's stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $334.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.47. The business's 50 day moving average price is $311.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $352.42.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $4.08 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $4.45 by ($0.37). UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 23.32% and a net margin of 5.04%.The business had revenue of $111.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.80 EPS. UnitedHealth Group's revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. UnitedHealth Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.000- EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. UnitedHealth Group's payout ratio is 38.30%.

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.

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