UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Releases FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) updated its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 27.500-28.000 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 27.520. The company issued revenue guidance of -. UnitedHealth Group also updated its FY24 guidance to $27.50-28.00 EPS.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $534.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $596.00 to $555.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a buy rating and set a $600.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $569.68.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH stock opened at $493.16 on Friday. UnitedHealth Group has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $554.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $488.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $515.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $454.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.14, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.54.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.63 by $0.28. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 26.50%. The business had revenue of $99.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.26 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group will post 27.74 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $1.88 per share. This represents a $7.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 45.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total value of $451,127.82. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,977,233.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other UnitedHealth Group news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total transaction of $451,127.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,977,233.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.48, for a total value of $597,581.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,306.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 83,860,514 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $44,150,045,000 after purchasing an additional 250,290 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,635,038 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $8,289,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893,192 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 100,076.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,823,820 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $6,268,753,000 after purchasing an additional 11,812,017 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 11,749,819 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $5,647,433,000 after buying an additional 399,739 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,210,004,000. 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.