UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shares gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after Wolfe Research lowered their price target on the stock from $501.00 to $390.00. The stock had previously closed at $321.58, but opened at $301.00. Wolfe Research currently has an outperform rating on the stock. UnitedHealth Group shares last traded at $306.79, with a volume of 12,641,136 shares changing hands.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $405.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $355.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $677.00 to $351.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $441.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley acquired 86,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. The trade was a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John F. Rex acquired 17,175 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The stock was 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 directly owns 203,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. The trade was a 9.20% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings 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 valued at $13,537,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,839 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,068,869,000 after purchasing an additional 319,515 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $7,899,905,000 after purchasing an additional 906,365 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at $6,375,744,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 5.8%

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 firm has a market capitalization of $274.93 billion, a PE ratio of 19.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $460.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $508.74.

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 return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.18%.

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.