UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Shares Gap Up on Insider Buying Activity

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Monday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $291.91, but opened at $304.78. UnitedHealth Group shares last traded at $300.33, with a volume of 17,328,316 shares traded.

Specifically, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $288.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,019,019.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 679,493 shares in the company, valued at $196,081,295.01. This trade represents a 14.63% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO John F. Rex acquired 17,175 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 203,796 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,329,091.52. This trade represents a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In related news, Director John H. Noseworthy purchased 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $312.16 per share, for a total transaction of $93,648.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 6,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,892,626.08. The trade was a 5.21% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $510.00 to $356.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $513.00 to $362.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 15th. TD Cowen downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $308.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday. Finally, Raymond James lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $454.23.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 8.2%

The company has a 50 day moving average of $467.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $511.49. The stock has a market cap of $286.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.83.

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

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,375,744,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,295,153 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,344,586,000 after acquiring an additional 8,280,404 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 1st quarter valued at $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 5,583,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,914,740,000. 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.