UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Raised to Buy at HSBC

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) was upgraded by research analysts at HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage presently has a $595.00 price target on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock. HSBC’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.77% from the company’s previous close.

UNH has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. 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. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $603.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $626.79.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE UNH traded up $7.83 during trading on Friday, reaching $532.35. 911,558 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,373,389. UnitedHealth Group has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The company has a market capitalization of $489.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $556.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $561.20.

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

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Delta Financial Group Inc. increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. Delta Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,650 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $965,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,882,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. First PREMIER Bank boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 7.0% during the third quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 274 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $160,000 after purchasing an additional 18 shares during the period. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.9% in the third quarter. Genesee Capital Advisors LLC now owns 990 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $579,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jmac Enterprises LLC grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jmac Enterprises LLC now owns 823 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $481,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.