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

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its price objective cut by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $694.00 to $660.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price points to a potential upside of 21.46% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $700.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $675.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Barclays lowered their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $543.41 on Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group has a 1 year low of $436.38 and a 1 year high of $630.73. 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 cap of $500.09 billion, a PE ratio of 35.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $541.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $564.79.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The business had revenue of $100.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $5.83 earnings per share. UnitedHealth Group’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 441.9% during the 4th quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 40,162 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $20,316,000 after purchasing an additional 32,750 shares during the last quarter. BSN CAPITAL PARTNERS Ltd raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. BSN CAPITAL PARTNERS Ltd now owns 72,818 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $36,418,000 after acquiring an additional 24,298 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,619,549 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,325,125,000 after purchasing an additional 12,322 shares in the last quarter. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA raised its position in UnitedHealth Group by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Spectrum Asset Management Inc. NB CA now owns 6,304 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $3,189,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 46,182.6% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 202,255 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $102,313,000 after buying an additional 201,818 shares during the last quarter. 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.