UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Price Target Lowered to $405.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its target price lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $525.00 to $405.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on UNH. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $490.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $486.00.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Up 6.2%

Shares of NYSE UNH opened at $291.24 on Thursday. UnitedHealth Group has a 12-month low of $248.88 and a 12-month high of $630.73. The company has a market cap of $264.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $470.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $513.60.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $6.91 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,533 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $320.80 per share, for a total transaction of $491,786.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. This trade represents a 34.07% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John F. Rex acquired 17,175 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $291.12 per share, for a total transaction of $4,999,986.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 203,796 shares in the company, valued at approximately $59,329,091.52. This represents a 9.20% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. NewSquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 685.7% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 55 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaMark Advisors LLC bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.