UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Stock Price Down 2.1% – Time to Sell?

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) fell 2.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $308.77 and last traded at $313.7670. 9,140,192 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average session volume of 12,212,605 shares. The stock had previously closed at $320.52.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on UNH shares. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $423.00 to $417.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $317.00 to $409.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $310.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $352.00 to $386.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $397.12.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $347.66 and a 200 day moving average of $318.23. The firm has a market cap of $284.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.82, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $113.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $113.19 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.15 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $2.21 dividend. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 5,583,343 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% during the first 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 last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 21,766,922 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,516,107,000 after acquiring an additional 3,439,182 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 21,312,182 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $6,624,411,000 after acquiring an additional 675,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 11.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 17,499,949 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $6,042,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,747,337 shares during the period. 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.