UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $2.10

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 24th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of 2.10 per share by the healthcare conglomerate on Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%.

UnitedHealth Group has increased its dividend by an average of 13.5% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 15 years. UnitedHealth Group has a dividend payout ratio of 25.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect UnitedHealth Group to earn $33.22 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $8.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 25.3%.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Down 7.3 %

UNH opened at $465.58 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. UnitedHealth Group has a 1-year low of $436.38 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The company has a market capitalization of $428.46 billion, a PE ratio of 30.04, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $519.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $560.44.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.74 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The company’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $5.83 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $629.32.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.33% 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.