UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Shares Down 0.4% – Time to Sell?

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shares traded down 0.4% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $507.85 and last traded at $508.85. 719,044 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 4,090,300 shares. The stock had previously closed at $511.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on UNH shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $615.00 to $595.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $591.00 to $644.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. HSBC cut UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $601.00 to $609.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Three investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $626.84.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $565.71 and its 200 day moving average is $560.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $469.34 billion, a PE ratio of 33.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $6.56 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.61 earnings per share for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.65%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.72%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.0% in the third quarter. Independent Solutions Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,067 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. IMS Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 0.7% during the third quarter. IMS Capital Management now owns 3,626 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $2,120,000 after buying an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 29.1% in the third quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 783,143 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $457,888,000 after acquiring an additional 176,543 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 1,687 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $986,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,137 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $668,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.