UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Price Target Raised to $571.00 at Piper Sandler

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its price objective raised by Piper Sandler from $566.00 to $571.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on UNH. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $618.00 to $584.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer reissued an outperform rating and issued a $610.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Stephens reissued an overweight rating and issued a $605.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $534.00 to $560.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a buy rating and issued a $600.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $569.68.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of UNH stock opened at $478.99 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $489.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $515.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $441.60 billion, a PE ratio of 29.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.54. UnitedHealth Group has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $554.70.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.63 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $99.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.23 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.50% and a net margin of 4.05%. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.26 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group will post 27.75 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 19th. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were given a dividend of $1.88 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $7.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 45.97%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total transaction of $451,127.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,977,233.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 858 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $525.79, for a total value of $451,127.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,977,233.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,236 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $483.48, for a total value of $597,581.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,527,306.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of UNH. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 1st quarter worth about $210,000. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 8.9% during the 1st quarter. McGowan Group Asset Management Inc. now owns 744 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 31.8% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 250,196 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $127,592,000 after purchasing an additional 60,300 shares during the last quarter. MAS Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. MAS Advisors LLC now owns 463 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Western Trust Bank purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $875,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.