UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) PT Lowered to $603.00

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its price target cut by stock analysts at Barclays from $604.00 to $603.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock. Barclays‘s price target points to a potential upside of 5.77% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on UNH. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Stephens lowered their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $632.00 to $605.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $481.00 to $647.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. KeyCorp started coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $675.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $615.53.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UnitedHealth Group stock traded down $1.37 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $570.10. 927,042 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,946,765. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $584.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $535.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $526.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group has a fifty-two week low of $436.38 and a fifty-two week high of $608.63.

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

Institutional Trading of UnitedHealth Group

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 84,405,255 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $41,755,280,000 after purchasing an additional 544,740 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,062,928 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $12,893,331,000 after purchasing an additional 94,641 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 0.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,039,601 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $4,094,247,000 after acquiring an additional 35,533 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 30.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,816,254 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,942,956,000 after purchasing an additional 880,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,772,487 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,920,039,000 after purchasing an additional 21,149 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.