UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Stock Price Up 1.1%

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shares rose 1.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $592.09 and last traded at $590.66. Approximately 469,046 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 4,143,617 shares. The stock had previously closed at $584.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $560.00 to $604.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $546.00 to $601.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $614.17.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $541.63 billion, a PE ratio of 35.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $541.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $510.85.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.66 by $0.14. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.66% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The firm had revenue of $98.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.14 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.69 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 2,851 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $569.88, for a total value of $1,624,727.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,812,029.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 2,851 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $569.88, for a total value of $1,624,727.88. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,812,029.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $579.03, for a total value of $868,545.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,785 shares in the company, valued at $4,507,748.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bell Investment Advisors Inc boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 525 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 3.2% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 35,946 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares in the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 9.8% during the first quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 75,602 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $39,802,000 after buying an additional 5,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Insight Partners LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital Insight Partners LLC now owns 9,045 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,475,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.