UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $2.10

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 6th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of 2.10 per share by the healthcare conglomerate on Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th.

UnitedHealth Group has increased its dividend by an average of 14.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 15 years. UnitedHealth Group has a payout ratio of 27.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect UnitedHealth Group to earn $30.28 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $8.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.7%.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 5.2 %

Shares of UnitedHealth Group stock opened at $596.69 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $581.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $543.74. The company has a market cap of $551.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. UnitedHealth Group has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $608.63.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.00 by $0.15. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $6.56 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group will post 27.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

UNH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays cut their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $604.00 to $603.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp initiated coverage on UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price objective on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $615.53.

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.