UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Stock Price Up 1.1% Following Dividend Announcement

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $301.55 and last traded at $299.16. 3,691,285 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 6,942,156 shares. The stock had previously closed at $295.84.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. UnitedHealth Group's payout ratio is 37.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on UNH. Bank of America cut UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $450.00 to $400.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group to $350.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 16th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $428.43.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $409.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $482.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $274.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.55, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.44.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $6.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Kristen Gil purchased 3,700 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $271.17 per share, for a total transaction of $1,003,329.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,327.06. The trade was a 3,135.59% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO John F. Rex purchased 17,175 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 203,796 shares of the company's stock, valued at $59,329,091.52. This represents a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768. Insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth about $6,375,744,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,295,153 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $4,344,586,000 after purchasing an additional 8,280,404 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $47,519,620,000 after acquiring an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,914,740,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company's stock.

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.