UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Trading 2.2% Higher – Should You Buy?

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)’s share price shot up 2.2% on Friday . The company traded as high as $516.29 and last traded at $515.45. 707,996 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 2,377,721 shares. The stock had previously closed at $504.51.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

UNH has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp began coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, October 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $603.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $628.37.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.7 %

The stock has a market cap of $472.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $559.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $560.75.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.56 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.72%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $26,626,387,000 after acquiring an additional 563,554 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,440,133,000 after buying an additional 318,039 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,884,019,000 after buying an additional 193,800 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,096,896,000 after acquiring an additional 5,290,025 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 30.0% during 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. 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.