Why UnitedHealth Stock Is Sliding Wednesday

UnitedHealth Group Inc UNH shares are trading lower Wednesday after the company's CEO highlighted an increase in elevated volumes of non-urgent surgeries, which has increased fears of higher costs for insurers.

What To Know: Speaking at a Goldman Sachs healthcare conference, Tim Noel, CEO of UnitedHealth's Medicare and retirement business, pointed to elevated demand for outpatient procedures from Medicare patients, per Reuters. 

"We're seeing that more seniors are just more comfortable accessing services for things that they might have pushed off a bit like knees and hips," Noel reportedly said at the conference.

The elevated demand is expected to increase the company's second-quarter costs and premiums look set to lag spending on claims. As a result, UnitedHealth said it expects its medical loss ratio for full-year 2023 to be in the upper end of its prior outlook. 

Following the news, RBC Capital analyst Ben Hendrix reiterated UnitedHealth with an Outperform and maintained its $592 price target. Mizuho analyst Ann Hynes also reiterated UnitedHealth with a Buy and a $600 price target.

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UNH Price Action: UnitedHealth shares were down 5.9% at $462.30 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: courtesy of UnitedHealth.