UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Receives “Overweight” Rating from Cantor Fitzgerald

Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated their overweight rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) in a research note published on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $591.00 target price on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $481.00 to $647.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $597.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $546.00 to $559.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. HSBC lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $580.00 to $610.00 in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $614.17.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.6 %

UNH opened at $577.10 on Monday. UnitedHealth Group has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $607.94. The stock has a market cap of $532.91 billion, a PE ratio of 35.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $575.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $519.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.80 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 business had revenue of $98.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.14 EPS. UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group will post 27.69 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be paid a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 51.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 1st quarter valued at $1,117,462,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 107.8% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,306,729 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,141,113,000 after acquiring an additional 1,196,758 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $480,903,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 30.0% during the second 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 during the period. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1,125.4% during the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 894,006 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $455,281,000 after buying an additional 821,050 shares in the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by 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.