UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Shares Up 1.8% – Should You Buy?

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shares were up 1.8% on Tuesday. The stock traded as high as $406.72 and last traded at $404.8790. 4,443,396 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 7,213,303 shares. The stock had previously closed at $397.62.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on UNH. Zacks Research downgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Stephens set a $500.00 price objective on UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $440.00 to $495.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Monday, July 20th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $463.93.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 1.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $390.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $364.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $362.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.51.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 13th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $4.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.14 by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $112.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.31 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 17.95% and a net margin of 3.53%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue was down .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.59 EPS. UnitedHealth Group has set its FY 2026 guidance at 20.500- EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 20.61 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be issued a dividend of $2.32 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. This represents a $9.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 53.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, CEO Patrick Conway sold 1,169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $390.00, for a total transaction of $455,910.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,977,920. This represents a 7.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 76,863,061 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,946,594,000 after buying an additional 3,395,530 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,633,267 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $18,966,555,000 after acquiring an additional 301,081 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,713,684 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,169,606,000 after purchasing an additional 2,097,859 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 19.2% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,829,637 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,975,343,000 after buying an additional 1,747,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 10,704,994 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,449,317,000 after acquiring an additional 616,723 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Company Profile

UnitedHealth Group is a diversified health care company that provides health benefits and health services through two main businesses: UnitedHealthcare and Optum. UnitedHealthcare offers health insurance and related benefit plans to individuals, employers and government programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. Optum provides services across the health care system, including care delivery, pharmacy services, pharmacy benefit management, health technology and data analytics. Its businesses serve consumers, health care providers, employers, health plans and government organizations.