UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $2.10

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 24th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of 2.10 per share by the healthcare conglomerate on Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%.

UnitedHealth Group has raised its dividend by an average of 13.5% annually 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 25.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect UnitedHealth Group to earn $33.22 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 25.3%.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of UNH opened at $461.09 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $518.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $559.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $424.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.75, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group has a 52 week low of $436.38 and a 52 week high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.83 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $511.57 per share, for a total transaction of $511,570.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on UNH shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial cut their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.32.

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.