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Investing.com - Barclays has reiterated an Overweight rating and $352.00 price target on UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), a $298.5 billion healthcare giant with a strong dividend history spanning 33 consecutive years, following the company’s announcement about its Medicare Advantage star ratings. According to InvestingPro analysis, UNH appears undervalued at current levels.
UnitedHealth Group revealed that preliminary data for 2026 star ratings shows 78% of its Medicare Advantage membership will be in plans rated 4-star or higher, which is consistent with its 76% bonus membership under 2025 star ratings.
The 2026 ratings will impact UnitedHealth’s 2027 payment year, with Barclays noting that the stable performance helps alleviate investor concerns and supports the investment thesis around multi-year margin improvement for the company.
Barclays highlighted that UnitedHealth’s announcement represents a departure from its historical disclosure patterns and confirms that plans now have access to plan preview data earlier than usual.
The research firm also suggested that UnitedHealth’s early disclosure could pressure other companies in the sector to release their preliminary results well before official results are published approximately one month from now.
In other recent news, UnitedHealth Group has reaffirmed its 2025 earnings outlook during investor meetings, maintaining confidence in its previously disclosed projections. This outlook includes the impact of its recent acquisition of Amedisys, which is expected to be modestly dilutive to adjusted earnings per share due to related financing costs and integration investments. Additionally, Wolfe Research has reiterated an Outperform rating for UnitedHealth, setting a price target of $330.00. The firm highlighted the company’s updated 2025 earnings per share guidance of at least $16.00, aligning closely with their own estimate of $16.15 and slightly below the consensus of $16.30.
In other developments, UnitedHealth disclosed preliminary Medicare Advantage Star ratings data, indicating that 78% of its membership is expected to be in 4+ Star plans for payment year 2027. This data is still under review by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Meanwhile, TD Cowen has maintained a Hold rating on UnitedHealth with a price target of $275.00. On a broader scale, the U.S. government is falling short of its goal to hire medical coders to audit Medicare Advantage plans, potentially impacting the timeline for addressing a backlog of audits.
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