UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.15 EPS

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.00 by $0.15, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 3.66%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $6.56 earnings per share. UnitedHealth Group updated its FY 2024 guidance to 27.500-27.750 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $27.50-27.75 EPS.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $561.50 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $518.50 billion, a PE ratio of 37.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $584.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $532.84. UnitedHealth Group has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $608.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 55.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $597.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $481.00 to $647.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. HSBC upped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $580.00 to $610.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $615.16.

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.