UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.28 EPS

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.63 by $0.28, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $99.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.23 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 26.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.26 earnings per share. UnitedHealth Group updated its FY 2024 guidance to 27.500-28.000 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $27.50-28.00 EPS.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $478.99 on Thursday. UnitedHealth Group has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $554.70. The firm has a market cap of $441.60 billion, a PE ratio of 29.28, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $489.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $515.38.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $1.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $7.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 45.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total transaction of $451,127.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,289 shares in the company, valued at $16,977,233.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $483.48, for a total value of $597,581.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,527,306.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total transaction of $451,127.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,977,233.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 993 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $523,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Financial Partners Group Inc increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Financial Partners Group Inc now owns 509 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Signet Financial Management LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% in the first quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 964 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $491,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. Quilter Plc increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 274 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $144,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.9% in the second quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,553 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,227,000 after buying an additional 23 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $460.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $618.00 to $584.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $591.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $569.68.

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.