UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Rating Lowered to Hold at TD Cowen

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) was downgraded by analysts at TD Cowen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Finviz reports. They currently have a $308.00 target price on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock. TD Cowen’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 5.75% from the company’s current price.

UNH has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Bank of America lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $660.00 to $580.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $677.00 to $351.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $471.67.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

UNH opened at $291.24 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $264.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. UnitedHealth Group has a 1 year low of $248.88 and a 1 year high of $630.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $470.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $513.25.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The company had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $6.91 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Kristen Gil bought 3,700 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $271.17 per share, with a total value of $1,003,329.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,035,327.06. The trade was a 3,135.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,533 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $320.80 per share, for a total transaction of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,386.40. This represents a 34.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 in the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $47,519,620,000 after buying an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $13,537,859,000 after buying an additional 2,486,839 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,068,869,000 after purchasing an additional 319,515 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,899,905,000 after purchasing an additional 906,365 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at $6,375,744,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

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.