StockNews.com Begins Coverage on UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a strong-buy rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and issued a $610.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Thursday, April 20th. They issued an overweight rating and a $591.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $592.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and issued a $605.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Tuesday, February 28th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $590.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $600.88.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 0.1 %

UNH stock opened at $478.82 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. UnitedHealth Group has a 52-week low of $449.70 and a 52-week high of $558.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $488.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $501.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $445.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.68.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.24 by $0.02. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 6.16% and a return on equity of 27.05%. The company had revenue of $91.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.49 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group will post 24.98 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 13th were given a dividend of $1.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 10th. This represents a $6.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 30.18%.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,008 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.58, for a total transaction of $488,456.64. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,019,764.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,008 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $484.58, for a total value of $488,456.64. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,359 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,019,764.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Andrew Witty sold 6,160 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.49, for a total transaction of $3,002,938.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,564 shares in the company, valued at $42,199,084.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,852 shares of company stock valued at $4,313,962 over the last three months. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $2,299,000. Railway Pension Investments Ltd increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 426,020 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $225,867,000 after buying an additional 5,800 shares during the last quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp now owns 19,099 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,126,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Nikulski Financial Inc. now owns 10,433 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $5,531,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FirstPurpose Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. FirstPurpose Wealth LLC now owns 2,735 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,450,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. 86.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

UnitedHealth Group Company Profile

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UnitedHealth Group, Inc engages in the provision of health care coverage, software, and data consultancy services. It operates through the following segments: UnitedHealthcare, OptumHealth, OptumInsight, and OptumRx. The UnitedHealthcare segment utilizes Optum’s capabilities to help coordinate patient care, improve affordability of medical care, analyze cost trends, manage pharmacy benefits, work with care providers more effectively, and create a simpler consumer experience.