UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE:UNH) stock was up 4.87% at the top of the noon hour on October 17. UnitedHealth Group is a managed health care company that operates through UnitedHealthcare and the service arm Optum. Shares have climbed 26.8% in 2017 and 51% year over year.
The U.S. healthcare debate continues to rage as President Trump declared the Affordable Care Act “dead” on October 16. The Republican-controlled House and Senate has failed on several occasions to pass a repeal but appear to remain committed.
The company released its third quarter results the same day. Profits were up 26% in spite of a $1.6 billion reduction in revenues due to the company withdrawing from the individual health insurance market under the Affordable Care Act.
Revenues in the third quarter grew to $50.3 billion representing a 9% increase from Q3 2016. Net earnings increased 24% to $2.51 per share and adjusted net earnings were up 23% to $2.66 per share. UnitedHealthcare Medicare and Retirement demonstrated impressive revenue growth of 17.1% to $2.4 billion and saw a growth of 960,000 serviced year over year.
Optum saw its third quarter revenues rise 8.4% to $22.9 billion. OptumHealth revenue jumped 21.2% as it saw solid growth in care delivery as well as an increase in consumer health engagement products and services.
UnitedHealth Group offers a dividend of $0.75 per share with a 1.5% dividend yield. With the Republican Party pushing forward with a change to the ACA UnitedHealth Group could also see opportunities to re-enter the individual health insurance market in the future.
