Dow Today: UnitedHealth Group (UNH) Higher

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is trading up 39 points (+0.3%) at 13,024 as of Thursday, Nov 29, 2012, 10:35 a.m. ET. During this time, 153.4 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 628.6 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 2,087 issues advancing vs. 738 declining with 135 unchanged.

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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), which is sporting a 95-cent gain (+1.8%) bringing the stock to $53.70. This single gain is lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 7.19 points or roughly accounting for 18.4% of the Dow's overall gain. Volume for UnitedHealth Group currently sits at 2.3 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 6.1 million shares.

UnitedHealth Group has a market cap of $53.72 billion and is part of the health care sector and health services industry. Shares are up 3.8% year to date as of Wednesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 1.6%.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health and well-being company in the United States. The company has a P/E ratio of 10, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates UnitedHealth Group as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, increase in net income, revenue growth and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow.

• You can view the full UnitedHealth Group Ratings Report.

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For more information on UnitedHealth Group Inc click any of the following:

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