Royal Bank of Canada Increases UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) Price Target to $615.00

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) had its price target raised by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $555.00 to $615.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 8.86% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $525.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $566.00 to $571.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $607.00 to $546.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $481.00 to $647.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, UnitedHealth Group has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $599.11.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 2.9 %

NYSE UNH traded up $16.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $564.96. 1,716,823 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,275,086. UnitedHealth Group has a one year low of $436.38 and a one year high of $567.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $500.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $499.77. The stock has a market cap of $519.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.66 by $0.14. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 4.05% and a return on equity of 26.50%. The firm had revenue of $98.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $98.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that UnitedHealth Group will post 27.54 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in UNH. Bell Investment Advisors Inc grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 525 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 35,946 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $17,783,000 after acquiring an additional 1,129 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 16,941 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $8,919,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 9.8% in the 1st quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $573,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellecapital International Ltd. grew its holdings in UnitedHealth Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Bellecapital International Ltd. now owns 13,823 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $7,277,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 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.