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

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its price objective reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $525.00 to $405.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock.

UNH has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays decreased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $642.00 to $560.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $563.00 to $374.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Hsbc Global Res downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $510.00 to $356.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $525.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $486.00.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 6.2%

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 stock has a market capitalization of $264.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.79, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company had revenue of $109.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $6.91 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

UnitedHealth Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 18th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stephen J. Hemsley bought 86,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $288.57 per share, for a total transaction of $25,019,019.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 679,493 shares in the company, valued at $196,081,295.01. This represents a 14.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn bought 1,533 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $320.80 per share, for a total transaction of $491,786.40. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 6,033 shares in the company, valued at $1,935,386.40. The trade was a 34.07% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 109,408 shares of company stock worth $31,607,768 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 90,729,585 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $47,519,620,000 after purchasing an additional 5,583,343 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 25,847,940 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $13,537,859,000 after purchasing an additional 2,486,839 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,956,219 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $10,068,869,000 after buying an additional 319,515 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 15,616,007 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,899,905,000 after buying an additional 906,365 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth $6,375,744,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

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.