UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Stock Price Down 0.3% – What’s Next?

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shares fell 0.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $516.80 and last traded at $521.37. 644,800 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 4,258,878 shares. The stock had previously closed at $523.12.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UNH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.1 %

The stock has a market cap of $478.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $509.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $542.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.83 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.61%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UNH. NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 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.