UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Receives “Strong-Buy” Rating from Raymond James

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH)‘s stock had its “strong-buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Raymond James in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $540.00 target price on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, down from their previous target price of $635.00. Raymond James’ target price would suggest a potential upside of 24.93% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $700.00 price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Argus lowered UnitedHealth Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Truist Financial raised their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $626.52.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

UNH traded down $21.87 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $432.24. 2,545,194 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,358,803. UnitedHealth Group has a 12 month low of $432.40 and a 12 month high of $630.73. The stock has a market cap of $395.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $512.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $539.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a return on equity of 26.69% and a net margin of 3.60%. The firm 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. Analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of UNH. NewSquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Hurley Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 87.86% of the company’s stock.

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.