Best Healthcare Stocks To Research – February 18th

Alphabet, UnitedHealth Group, and Merck & Co., Inc. are the three Healthcare stocks to watch today, according to MarketBeat’s stock screener tool. Healthcare stocks are shares of publicly traded companies that operate in the healthcare industry, which includes pharmaceuticals, biotechnology firms, medical devices companies, healthcare providers, and health insurance companies. Investors often consider healthcare stocks as a sector with growth potential due to the constant demand for healthcare services and products, as well as ongoing innovation and advancements in medical technologies. These companies had the highest dollar trading volume of any Healthcare stocks within the last several days.

Alphabet (GOOGL)

Alphabet Inc. offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.

Shares of Alphabet stock traded down $1.46 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $183.77. 29,865,768 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 27,718,180. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.83, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $193.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $175.30. Alphabet has a 52-week low of $130.66 and a 52-week high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.84.

UnitedHealth Group (UNH)

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.

Shares of NYSE UNH traded down $21.99 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $501.52. 8,753,866 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,355,251. The stock has a market cap of $461.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $522.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $562.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK)

Merck & Co., Inc. is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.

Merck & Co., Inc. stock traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $83.25. The company had a trading volume of 25,892,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,191,813. The company has a market capitalization of $210.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.38. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 12-month low of $81.04 and a 12-month high of $134.63. The company’s fifty day moving average is $96.62 and its 200-day moving average is $104.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.