UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Stock Price Up 4.5% After Analyst Upgrade

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) traded up 4.5% on Tuesday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $310.00 to $365.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. UnitedHealth Group traded as high as $334.45 and last traded at $334.77. 11,635,371 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 9% from the average session volume of 12,800,516 shares. The stock had previously closed at $320.25.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on UNH. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $355.00 to $286.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $308.00 price objective (down from $520.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $337.00 to $352.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $306.00 to $267.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $337.00 to $379.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.77.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Citizens National Bank Trust Department lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.0% in the first quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department now owns 17,886 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $9,368,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.3% in the first quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 530,103 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $277,641,000 after buying an additional 1,465 shares during the period. Caitlin John LLC lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 14.8% in the first quarter. Caitlin John LLC now owns 862 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the period. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $515,000. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 47.8% during the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 38,796 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $19,625,000 after purchasing an additional 12,550 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 8.8%

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $289.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $371.39. The stock has a market cap of $315.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $4.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.45 by ($0.37). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 23.32%. The company had revenue of $111.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.80 EPS. UnitedHealth Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. UnitedHealth Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.000- EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 38.30%.

UnitedHealth Group Company Profile

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.