UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Stock Price Up 0.8%

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)’s share price traded up 0.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $580.78 and last traded at $578.94. 397,769 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 4,234,798 shares. The stock had previously closed at $574.24.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $580.00 to $610.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $640.00 to $680.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Argus increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $545.00 to $562.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $614.17.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.1 %

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $524.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $505.89. The firm has a market cap of $534.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.37, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.88.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $98.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.14 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.69 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid 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 1.45%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bell Investment Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 525 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 35,946 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $17,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,941 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $8,919,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 9.8% during the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 5,537 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

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.