FY2025 EPS Estimates for UNH Lowered by Cantor Fitzgerald

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) – Research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their FY2025 earnings estimates for UnitedHealth Group in a report released on Wednesday, May 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst S. James now forecasts that the healthcare conglomerate will post earnings per share of $23.01 for the year, down from their previous estimate of $26.27. The consensus estimate for UnitedHealth Group’s current full-year earnings is $29.54 per share.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Erste Group Bank cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Argus cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $486.00.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 6.2%

Shares of UNH stock opened at $291.24 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $264.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. UnitedHealth Group has a fifty-two week low of $248.88 and a fifty-two week high of $630.73. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $470.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $513.60.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $6.91 earnings per share.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,375,744,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 56,142.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,295,153 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,344,586,000 after buying an additional 8,280,404 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $47,519,620,000 after buying an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,914,740,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,533 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $320.80 per share, for a total transaction of $491,786.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. The trade was a 34.07% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley purchased 86,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $288.57 per share, with a total value of $25,019,019.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 679,493 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,081,295.01. The trade was a 14.63% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.18%.

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.