Wolfe Research Cuts UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Price Target to $390.00

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its price target dropped by stock analysts at Wolfe Research from $501.00 to $390.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock. Wolfe Research’s price target indicates a potential upside of 21.38% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on UNH. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $677.00 to $351.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Raymond James cut UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $308.00 price objective (down from $520.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday. Mizuho lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $560.00 to $350.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $451.43.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.7%

UnitedHealth Group stock traded up $5.42 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $321.31. 23,275,663 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,178,735. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $467.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $511.49. 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 market cap of $291.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley acquired 86,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 679,493 shares in the company, valued at $196,081,295.01. The trade was a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO John F. Rex acquired 17,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 203,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,329,091.52. This represents a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UNH. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth $6,375,744,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,295,153 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,344,586,000 after purchasing an additional 8,280,404 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter worth $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $47,519,620,000 after purchasing an additional 5,583,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,914,740,000. 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.