UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Shares Gap Up on Insider Buying Activity

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shares gapped up before the market opened on Monday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $291.91, but opened at $304.78. UnitedHealth Group shares last traded at $300.33, with a volume of 17,328,316 shares traded.

Specifically, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 679,493 shares in the company, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. The trade was a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John F. Rex acquired 17,175 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 203,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. This trade represents a 9.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In related news, Director John H. Noseworthy purchased 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $312.16 per share, with a total value of $93,648.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 6,063 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,892,626.08. This represents a 5.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

UNH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $405.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho cut their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $461.19.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $470.82 and a 200-day moving average of $513.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $274.08 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $6.91 EPS. Equities analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 35.18%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $47,519,620,000 after acquiring an additional 5,583,343 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $13,537,859,000 after buying an additional 2,486,839 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 319,515 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,899,905,000 after buying an additional 906,365 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $6,375,744,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% 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.