UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Downgraded by Argus to “Hold”

Argus cut shares of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $650.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $694.00 to $660.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Truist Financial increased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $615.24.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $425.39 on Monday. UnitedHealth Group has a 12-month low of $424.81 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $510.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $538.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $389.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.91 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $2.10 per share. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.18%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,025,000 after buying an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,611,000 after buying an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. Waycross Partners LLC increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Waycross Partners LLC now owns 27,794 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $14,060,000 after buying an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 199,536 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $100,937,000 after acquiring an additional 11,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lmcg Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 37,974 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $19,210,000 after purchasing an additional 4,022 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.