Zacks Research Analysts Lift Earnings Estimates for UNH

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research lifted their Q2 2025 EPS estimates for shares of UnitedHealth Group in a research note issued on Thursday, January 30th. Zacks Research analyst D. Chatterjee now anticipates that the healthcare conglomerate will earn $7.33 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $7.00. The consensus estimate for UnitedHealth Group’s current full-year earnings is $29.64 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for UnitedHealth Group’s FY2025 earnings at $29.54 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $7.24 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $7.62 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $33.39 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $37.72 EPS.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $625.00 to $610.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. HSBC upgraded shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays dropped their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $629.32.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

NYSE:UNH opened at $542.30 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $499.07 billion, a PE ratio of 34.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $536.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $565.26. UnitedHealth Group has a 12 month low of $436.38 and a 12 month high of $630.73.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.74 by $0.07. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. The firm had revenue of $100.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.83 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $2.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $8.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. UnitedHealth Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other UnitedHealth Group news, Director Timothy Patrick Flynn acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $511.57 per share, with a total value of $511,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,302,065. This trade represents a 28.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kathleen S. Wright Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter worth about $27,000. West Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. AlphaMark Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in UnitedHealth Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of UnitedHealth Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its position in UnitedHealth Group by 132.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 65 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.