FY2024 Earnings Estimate for UNH Issued By Leerink Partnrs

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) – Stock analysts at Leerink Partnrs cut their FY2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, January 13th. Leerink Partnrs analyst W. Mayo now expects that the healthcare conglomerate will post earnings of $27.47 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $27.57. The consensus estimate for UnitedHealth Group’s current full-year earnings is $27.61 per share. Leerink Partnrs also issued estimates for UnitedHealth Group’s Q4 2024 earnings at $6.55 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $7.34 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $7.27 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $29.73 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $8.42 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $8.52 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $8.56 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $8.18 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $33.69 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $38.29 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $43.97 EPS.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $100.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.14 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.37% and a net margin of 3.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.56 earnings per share.

UNH has been the subject of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $610.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $626.79.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Down 0.1 %

UNH stock opened at $543.21 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $499.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.39, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.62. UnitedHealth Group has a twelve month low of $436.38 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The business has a fifty day moving average of $554.45 and a 200-day moving average of $563.12.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is 54.72%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UNH. State Street Corp grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 45,540,102 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $26,626,387,000 after buying an additional 563,554 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,636,704 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $11,440,133,000 after buying an additional 318,039 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,061,916 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,884,019,000 after purchasing an additional 193,800 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 78,814.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 5,296,737 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,096,896,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290,025 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.6% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

About UnitedHealth Group

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.