UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Shares Down 2.3% – What’s Next?

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shares were down 2.3% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $326.60 and last traded at $333.87. Approximately 11,074,204 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 11% from the average daily volume of 12,396,487 shares. The stock had previously closed at $341.56.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on UNH. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $433.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $423.00 to $417.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $325.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, September 12th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $310.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Eighteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $397.12.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $302.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $343.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $325.81.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were given a $2.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UNH. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in 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 worth $13,537,859,000 after acquiring an additional 2,486,839 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 3.3% during the second 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 during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter worth $3,837,207,000. Finally, Dodge & Cox increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 117.7% during the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 8,750,560 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,729,912,000 after acquiring an additional 4,730,192 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.