UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Upgraded at HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. HSBC currently has $595.00 target price on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock.

UNH has been the topic of several other research reports. Truist Financial lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $603.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $626.79.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

Shares of UNH opened at $520.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $478.65 billion, a PE ratio of 33.88, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $555.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $562.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. UnitedHealth Group has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued 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 net margin of 3.63% and a return on equity of 26.37%. The firm had revenue of $100.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.56 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group will post 27.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 54.72%.

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position 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 worth $26,626,387,000 after purchasing an additional 563,554 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the 3rd 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,884,019,000 after buying an additional 193,800 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% during 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 buying an additional 5,290,025 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 880,183 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.