UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Shares Up 1.5% – Should You Buy?

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)’s share price traded up 1.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $571.50 and last traded at $569.20. 623,838 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 3,927,385 shares. The stock had previously closed at $560.81.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $625.00 target price (down previously from $640.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. HSBC cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $524.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $583.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $536.66.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.56 EPS. UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.72%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Insight Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 9,045 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,475,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the last quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter worth $2,905,000. Vantage Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC now owns 152,107 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $75,247,000 after buying an additional 45,173 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,976 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $14,603,000 after buying an additional 3,006 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 72,689 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $35,126,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.