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UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Stock Moves -0.02%: What You Should Know

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UnitedHealth Group (UNH - Free Report) closed at $478.14 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.02% move from the prior day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 0.91% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.89%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.12%.

Heading into today, shares of the largest U.S. health insurer had gained 4.19% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's loss of 3.31% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.55% in that time.

UnitedHealth Group will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, UnitedHealth Group is projected to report earnings of $4.31 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 71.03%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $72.73 billion, up 11.09% from the year-ago period.

UNH's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $18.85 per share and revenue of $287.08 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +11.67% and +11.64%, respectively.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for UnitedHealth Group. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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 has moved 0.02% lower. UnitedHealth Group is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that UnitedHealth Group has a Forward P/E ratio of 25.37 right now. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 22.46.

We can also see that UNH currently has a PEG ratio of 1.73. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. Medical - HMOs stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.31 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 199, which puts it in the bottom 22% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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