UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Trading Up 2.5% – Still a Buy?

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)’s share price rose 2.5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $323.84 and last traded at $319.40. Approximately 8,216,830 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 32% from the average daily volume of 12,155,146 shares. The stock had previously closed at $311.54.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on UNH shares. Weiss Ratings raised UnitedHealth Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $433.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $310.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $352.00 to $386.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Eighteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $397.12.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.82. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $345.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $317.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $289.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $113.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $113.19 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 46.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in UNH. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 176.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 44,249 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $22,384,000 after purchasing an additional 28,231 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 137.1% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,033,000 after buying an additional 2,324 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 37,373 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $19,574,000 after buying an additional 691 shares during the period. Machina Capital S.A.S. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 376.3% during the first quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. now owns 3,334 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,746,000 after acquiring an additional 2,634 shares during the period. Finally, Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 256.3% in the first quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 94,831 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $49,694,000 after purchasing an additional 68,219 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.