UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.15 EPS

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.00 by $0.15, Briefing.com reports. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.66% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE UNH traded down $4.77 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $566.57. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,147,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,960,709. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $584.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $532.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $523.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $608.63.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $625.00 price objective (down from $640.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Wednesday. Stephens reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $632.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus 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.