UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Given New $640.00 Price Target at Oppenheimer

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its price objective boosted by stock analysts at Oppenheimer from $610.00 to $640.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock. Oppenheimer’s target price indicates a potential upside of 15.06% from the company’s current price.

UNH has been the subject of a number of other research reports. HSBC downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp initiated coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $626.84.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UNH stock traded down $22.74 during trading on Friday, hitting $556.23. The company had a trading volume of 3,427,712 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,854,249. UnitedHealth Group has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The company has a market cap of $511.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $587.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $558.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The company’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.56 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group will post 27.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,096,896,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,025 shares in the last quarter. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 2nd quarter worth $480,903,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 30.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,816,254 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,942,956,000 after purchasing an additional 880,183 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1,125.4% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 894,006 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $455,281,000 after acquiring an additional 821,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 9,235.4% during the 3rd quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 784,924 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $458,929,000 after buying an additional 776,516 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is 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.