UnitedHealth Group Incorporated Announces Quarterly Dividend of $2.10 (NYSE:UNH)

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 6th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of 2.10 per share by the healthcare conglomerate on Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%.

UnitedHealth Group has increased its dividend by an average of 14.7% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. UnitedHealth Group has a dividend payout ratio of 27.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect UnitedHealth Group to earn $30.28 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $8.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.7%.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE UNH traded up $30.84 on Wednesday, hitting $597.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 911,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,873,597. The company has a market capitalization of $552.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $580.96 and a 200-day moving average of $543.36. UnitedHealth Group has a 12-month low of $436.38 and a 12-month high of $608.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.56 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group will post 27.61 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Argus boosted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $597.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $615.53.

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.