So I have been looking at UNH lately and it has come down a lot. It seems it has gotten sideways with the government on medicare billing, also they had a CEO that was gunned down in the streets. I would say this company is really hated right now. So look at this chart.
that is the weekly here is the monthly.
It is down to where it was at in November of 2019. But if you look at the chart it has been a steady climb up to the right. It is only paying out a little over a 3 percent dividend but it grows about 5 percent a year. So with inflation that would keep you ahead of the game. It’s been cut in half this year.
Looking at a Peg of .75 a P/E of 11.66 and a price to sales of .63 it all points to a cheap stock. The Price to book is high but this isn’t an industrial company so I am not paying attention to that.
It’s profit margins at 5.39% isn’t that high but it’s revenue growth of 9 percent isn’t bad for a dividend company. It’s return on equity is at 22 percent but it has a high debt load also.
Looking at all of this, I think it is a good candidate for a dividend grower, but I am not so sure, it is done falling. With the news of the government coming after them, they could have another leg down. They report on 6/29, and we should have a better understanding of where they stand.
I do not usually invest in Dividend stocks, but since I am retired, I am looking for a portion of my portfolio to go into companies that are paying a growing dividend. I would rather have them than bonds.
Anyone have any insights.
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This is really getting interesting now. They said on the conference call that they will get back on track by next year. It seems that they did not price their products correctly and that insurance rates will start increasing substantially. This is almost at the April lows now, the government will probably fine them, but they are United Health. You really think this won’t survive and get more profitable? It could be a year, but I think this will start climbing out of this hole, and it almost has a 3.5% dividend. I am still watching.
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Falling knives category.
At some point, picking up a position probably makes sense. It is now? I’m not certain.
Maybe 1/4 position here and see?
The stock is back to pre 2019 levels at this point.
collecting 3.5% on a quarter position with entry points some 5 to 15% down from here makes sense.
$240 ~ 5% 3.7% Div
$227 ~ 10% 3.9% Div
$215 ~ 15% 4.1% Div
The short ratio is well within normal limits right now and does not indicate that there are any significantly bearish bet based on share’s lent.
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This is aging interestingly. Buffett just put a token $1.9B into the company. Presumably he was the counter party to the shorts….
20ish % was available to those who were buying in the 240s.
David Tepper and many other have opened position in $UNH. However, we may not know whether it is Buffett’s purchase or one of the others. I saw the stock was making a move out of $250, the last couple of weeks, my Sep $250 P looks like going to expire. So, I have March $300 put, let us see. My primary interesting point was 200 month MA. The monthly chart shows how much the stock price has declined.
$UNH still has 52 m subscribers and their optum division is so big, essentially it is expected to survive the decline.