By Anna Prior
UnitedHealth Group Inc. on Wednesday said its board increased
the health insurer's quarterly dividend by 34% and renewed the
company's share-repurchase program.
UnitedHealth raised the quarterly payout to shareholders to 37.5
cents, an increase of 9.5 cents from the 28-cent dividend the
company has paid since the second quarter of 2013.
The company had hinted in April at a potential dividend
increase, with Chief Financial Officer David Wichmann noting on the
company's quarterly conference call that UnitedHealth had increased
its dividend by 30% or more in each of the past three years.
"That is something that we are committed to re-evaluating
periodically," he said at the time.
The board also authorized the repurchase of 100 million shares
over time, valued at about $8 billion at Tuesday's close. The
program replaces the remainder of a June 2013 share-repurchase
authorization, which had about 63 million shares remaining. The
company had about 1 billion shares outstanding as of May 31,
UnitedHealth added.
UnitedHealth in April said its first-quarter earnings fell 7.8%,
hurt by government cuts to Medicare Advantage programs and new
taxes. The period was the first to reflect the Affordable Care Act.
Planned reductions in government funding for Medicare Advantage and
other provisions of the health law are expected to affect the
managed-care provider's performance this year.
Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@wsj.com
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