Investors Buy Large Volume of UnitedHealth Group Call Options (NYSE:UNH)

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 162,330 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 29% compared to the typical volume of 126,260 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on UNH. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $308.00 price objective (down previously from $520.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Monday, May 19th. TD Cowen lowered UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $308.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Raymond James lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $428.43.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE:UNH traded up $5.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $301.11. 7,390,746 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,956,732. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $413.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $486.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $273.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.44. UnitedHealth Group has a fifty-two week low of $248.88 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $6.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 16th. This is a boost from UnitedHealth Group's previous quarterly dividend of $2.10. UnitedHealth Group's dividend payout ratio is 37.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Waycross Partners LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Waycross Partners LLC now owns 27,794 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $14,060,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares in the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $515,000. Full Sail Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Full Sail Capital LLC now owns 1,612 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $815,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Soros Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth $39,413,000. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 47.8% during the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 38,796 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $19,625,000 after buying an additional 12,550 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company's stock.

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.