UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Stock Price Up 1.3% - What's Next?

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) shot up 1.3% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $307.44 and last traded at $307.55. 2,489,077 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 7,546,935 shares. The stock had previously closed at $303.71.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on UNH. Oppenheimer cut their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Hsbc Global Res lowered UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "moderate sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (down from $580.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Baird R W lowered UnitedHealth Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $415.00.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.1%

The firm has a market capitalization of $274.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $316.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $442.28.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.29% and a net margin of 5.39%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.91 earnings per share. Sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 16th were given a dividend of $2.21 per share. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 16th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. UnitedHealth Group's payout ratio is presently 37.02%.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CFO John F. Rex bought 17,175 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 203,796 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. The trade was a 9.20% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,533 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. The trade was a 34.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 buying 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 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $13,537,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,839 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $10,068,869,000 after purchasing an additional 319,515 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $7,899,905,000 after purchasing an additional 906,365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth about $6,375,744,000. 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.