TD Cowen Downgrades UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) to Hold

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) was downgraded by analysts at TD Cowen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $308.00 price objective on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock. TD Cowen’s target price indicates a potential downside of 4.28% from the company’s current price.

UNH has been the subject of several other reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $515.00 to $350.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $521.00 to $362.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Argus downgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut UnitedHealth Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Eight 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $451.43.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE UNH opened at $321.76 on Monday. UnitedHealth Group has a twelve month low of $248.88 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $464.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $510.17. 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 company has a market capitalization of $291.88 billion, a PE ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.56.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last issued its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $109.58 billion for 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 last year, the company posted $6.91 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn purchased 1,533 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $320.80 per share, with a total value of $491,786.40. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 6,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,935,386.40. This represents a 34.07% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John H. Noseworthy bought 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $312.16 per share, for a total transaction of $93,648.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,892,626.08. The trade was a 5.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 109,408 shares of company stock valued at $31,607,768 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in UnitedHealth Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $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 shares of UnitedHealth Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,846,764,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 6.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 5,583,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $1,914,740,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.