Royal Bank of Canada Cuts UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Price Target to $355.00

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its target price trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $525.00 to $355.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on UNH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $405.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $677.00 to $351.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Bank of America downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $560.00 to $350.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $563.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $486.00.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 6.2%

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $291.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $264.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. UnitedHealth Group has a 12-month low of $248.88 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $470.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $513.25.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly 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). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The firm had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $6.91 EPS. Analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $2.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.18%.

Insider Activity at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley acquired 86,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. This represents a 14.63% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kristen Gil purchased 3,700 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were bought at an average price of $271.17 per share, for a total transaction of $1,003,329.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,818 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,035,327.06. This trade represents a 3,135.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of UNH. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth $6,375,744,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,295,153 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,344,586,000 after buying an additional 8,280,404 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter worth about $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in the 1st 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,914,740,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently 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.