UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Hits New 1-Year Low After Analyst Downgrade

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 15th, 2023

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $610.00 to $580.00. The company traded as low as $445.68 and last traded at $456.75, with a volume of 3560891 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $491.31.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $592.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Monday, April 17th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $596.00 to $562.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 17th. SVB Securities dropped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $560.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $610.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $630.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $596.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In other UnitedHealth Group news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,684 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Monday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.46, for a total transaction of $822,566.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,237,390.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,684 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Monday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $488.46, for a total value of $822,566.64. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,237,390.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew Witty sold 6,160 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $487.49, for a total transaction of $3,002,938.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,199,084.36. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,852 shares of company stock valued at $4,313,962 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth about $87,114,000. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth about $2,299,000. Railway Pension Investments Ltd increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 426,020 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $225,867,000 after purchasing an additional 5,800 shares during the period. Wintrust Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC now owns 5,784 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,067,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lincoln Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp now owns 19,099 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,126,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.31% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $491.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $495.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $428.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.68.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 14th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.24 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $91.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.77 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 6.16% and a return on equity of 27.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.49 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 24.97 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 19th will be given a $1.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 15th. This is a positive change from UnitedHealth Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.65. This represents a $7.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.63%. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 30.18%.

UnitedHealth Group Company Profile

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UnitedHealth Group, Inc engages in the provision of health care coverage, software, and data consultancy services. It operates through the following segments: UnitedHealthcare, OptumHealth, OptumInsight, and OptumRx. The UnitedHealthcare segment utilizes Optum’s capabilities to help coordinate patient care, improve affordability of medical care, analyze cost trends, manage pharmacy benefits, work with care providers more effectively, and create a simpler consumer experience.