UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.10 on December 17th

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 6th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be given a dividend of 2.10 per share by the healthcare conglomerate on Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th.

UnitedHealth Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 14.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. UnitedHealth Group has a dividend payout ratio of 27.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect UnitedHealth Group to earn $30.15 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $8.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.9%.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $605.45 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market cap of $557.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.44, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $608.63. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $581.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $543.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $6.56 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group will post 27.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America lowered their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong 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 $615.53.

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.