UnitedHealth Group Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:UNH)

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 438,212 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 69% compared to the typical daily volume of 259,388 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on UNH. KeyCorp raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho boosted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $433.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $385.54.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Saranac Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,998,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 766.0% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 1,732 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $598,000 after buying an additional 1,532 shares during the last quarter. Severin Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter worth $598,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 94,077 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $32,485,000 after buying an additional 3,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.5% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 291,853 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $100,777,000 after buying an additional 17,684 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of UNH stock traded down $2.88 on Friday, hitting $330.61. 5,867,276 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,955,726. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $342.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $315.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $299.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.26, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. UnitedHealth Group has a twelve month low of $234.60 and a twelve month high of $606.36.

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

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be given a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is currently 46.14%.

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.