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On the Call: UnitedHealth CEO Stephen J. Hemsley

UnitedHealth Group CEO discusses possibility of offering a larger dividend to shareholders

  • By The Associated Press
  • On 12:37 pm EDT, Tuesday October 20, 2009

UnitedHealth Group Inc. CEO Stephen J. Hemsley faced a flurry of questions from one investor about the possibility of offering a larger dividend during their Tuesday conference call to discuss third-quarter earnings.

The Minnetonka, Minn.-based managed care company currently offers a 3-cent annual dividend, but Lee Cooperman of Omega Advisors told executives a larger dividend would boost the stock's value.

QUESTION: What is the difference between spending money on stock buybacks and having it leave the company as opposed to paying a cash dividend and letting your shareholders decide what to do with the money?

RESPONSE: If you will allow us to go through a thoughtful process relative to where our capital should be allocated going forward, given the diversity of our business, how healthcare reform could play out across the spectrum of our businesses and market opportunities, we will then set a capital direction going forward which may very well include the dividend. But I am not committing to that at this point in time.

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