#4 - UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH)
Healthcare, and particularly health insurance, is another reason to consider medical stocks a long-term staple in your portfolio. And when you focus on health insurance companies, UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) belongs at the top of the list.
With a stock like UNH, you’re looking for a combination of value and growth. The value has come in the form of a dividend that has increased for 15 consecutive years, and not just by a little bit. In the last 10 years, the company has increased its payout by 460%. That’s well above its three-year average of around 14%.
But here’s where investors can get really excited. Over that same period, the total return for UNH stock is 703%, and the stock price growth alone is 540%.
The driving force behind all that growth is predictable and growing cash flow. As one of the largest health insurers in the world, the company has the ability to increase its prices while also generating additional revenue from its technology unit, Optum.
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.
Read More - Current Price
- $595.27
- Consensus Rating
- Moderate Buy
- Ratings Breakdown
- 19 Buy Ratings, 3 Hold Ratings, 0 Sell Ratings.
- Consensus Price Target
- $615.53 (3.4% Upside)
