Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Stock Price

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its target price increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $267.00 to $400.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $198.00 price target (down from $312.00) on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Baird R W cut UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $418.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $290.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $337.00 to $379.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $365.00.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of UNH opened at $363.95 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $311.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $352.42. UnitedHealth Group has a twelve month low of $234.60 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The stock has a market cap of $329.62 billion, a PE ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $111.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. UnitedHealth Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at 16.000- EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th were paid a dividend of $2.21 per share. This represents a $8.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 15th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is 38.30%.

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,837,207,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,572,193,000. Finally, Dodge & Cox raised its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 117.7% during the second quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 8,750,560 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,729,912,000 after acquiring an additional 4,730,192 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

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.