UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Earns "Strong-Buy" Rating from Raymond James

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "strong-buy" rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Raymond James in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $540.00 price target on the healthcare conglomerate's stock, down from their previous price target of $635.00. Raymond James' price objective would indicate a potential upside of 27.15% from the stock's previous close.

UNH has been the subject of several other research reports. Mizuho upped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Argus cut shares of UnitedHealth Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $650.00 target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $595.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $603.05.

UnitedHealth Group Price Performance

NYSE:UNH traded down $3.26 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $424.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,608,478 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,452,390. The company has a market capitalization of $388.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.40, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. 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 has a twelve month low of $417.12 and a twelve month high of $630.73. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $506.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $537.23.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The company had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.91 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of UNH. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,957 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $4,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC boosted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC now owns 9,115 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $4,611,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051 shares during the last quarter. Waycross Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Waycross Partners LLC now owns 27,794 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock worth $14,060,000 after purchasing an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 199,536 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $100,937,000 after purchasing an additional 11,426 shares during the period. Finally, Lmcg Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 37,974 shares of the healthcare conglomerate's stock valued at $19,210,000 after buying an additional 4,022 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is owned by 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.