UnitedHealth Group (UNH) shares moved higher Wednesday after the health insurance giant boosted its quarterly dividend following record revenues over the three months ending in March.
In an update from its 2023 shareholders meeting, UnitedHealth said it would pay a cash dividend of $1.88 per share to investors on June 27, a 14% increase from its prior payout, following its stronger-than-expected first quarter earnings that included record overall revenues, double-digit gains from its Optum unit and improving costs in its insurance division.
UnitedHealth said adjusted profits for the three months ended in March came in at $6.26 a share, up 14% from the same period last year and 13 cents ahead of the Wall Street consensus forecast, while revenues rose 14.7% to $91.9 billion.
UnitedHealth shares, a Dow component, were marked 0.5% higher in early trading Wednesday to change hands at $490.10 each, a move that would trim the stock's year-to-date decline to around 7.5%.
UnitedHealth added some 655,000 new Medicare Advantage members over the first quarter, as well as a further 570,000 Medicaid members over the three months ending in March.
The group's medical cost ratio, however, was pegged 20 basis points higher at 82.2%, suggesting a modestly larger portion of its collected premiums were paid out on insurance claims.
Overall premiums were up 13.6% to $72.786 billion while operating costs rose 19.5% to $13.625 billion.
