Short Interest in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Increases By 25.5%

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) saw a significant growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,110,000 shares, a growth of 25.5% from the April 30th total of 8,850,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 13,650,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $510.00 to $356.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $552.00 to $353.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $428.43.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Kristen Gil purchased 3,700 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $271.17 per share, for a total transaction of $1,003,329.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,818 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John H. Noseworthy bought 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $312.16 per share, for a total transaction of $93,648.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,892,626.08. The trade was a 5.21% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of UNH. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,375,744,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% in the first 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 purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the first quarter valued at $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $47,519,620,000 after buying an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth $1,914,740,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:UNH traded down $2.96 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $301.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,618,684 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,849,863. The company has a 50-day moving average of $426.60 and a 200-day moving average of $490.74. UnitedHealth Group has a 12 month low of $248.88 and a 12 month high of $630.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $273.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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 the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $6.91 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

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.