UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Stock Moves 0.34%: What You Should Know

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UnitedHealth Group (UNH) closed the most recent trading day at $411.66, moving +0.34% from the previous trading session. This change traded in line with S&P 500.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had gained 2.12% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's gain of 2.22% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.71% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from UNH as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 15, 2021. On that day, UNH is projected to report earnings of $4.40 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 38.2%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $69.55 billion, up 11.92% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $18.61 per share and revenue of $282.16 billion. These totals would mark changes of +10.25% and +9.73%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for UNH. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. UNH is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Looking at its valuation, UNH is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 22.05. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 19.17, so we one might conclude that UNH is trading at a premium comparatively.

Meanwhile, UNH's PEG ratio is currently 1.67. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Medical - HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.22 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 37, which puts it in the top 15% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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