Investors Purchase High Volume of UnitedHealth Group Call Options (NYSE:UNH)

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors purchased 438,212 call options on the company. This is an increase of 69% compared to the average daily volume of 259,388 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Saranac Partners Ltd acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth approximately $4,998,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL boosted its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 766.0% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 1,732 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $598,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532 shares during the last quarter. Severin Investments LLC bought a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth $598,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 94,077 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $32,485,000 after acquiring an additional 3,194 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 291,853 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $100,777,000 after acquiring an additional 17,684 shares during the last quarter. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

UNH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $286.00 to $408.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $440.00 price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Mizuho increased their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $300.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $310.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $406.00 target price for the company. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $385.54.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE:UNH opened at $330.61 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $341.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $315.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.82. UnitedHealth Group has a fifty-two week low of $234.60 and a fifty-two week high of $606.36. The company has a market cap of $299.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.26, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.43.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $2.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $113.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $113.19 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 19.23% and a net margin of 4.04%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $7.15 EPS. As a group, equities 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 will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be paid a dividend of $2.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $8.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.14%.

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.