Adding UnitedHealth Stock To Your Watchlist May Be A Good Idea

(RTTNews) - Shares of health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc.(UNH) may be worth keeping an eye on, thanks to the less-strict-than-expected hospital price transparency requirement.

President Trump's rule to improve transparency for customers, requires hospitals to publicly disclose their negotiated rates with insurance companies. Hospitals will also need to provide patients the cost of the services and items they provide.

Healthcare stocks have been rising in the past week, in relieved reaction to the proposed rule, which is set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, to give hospitals time for compliance. Failure to provide adequate price transparency would invite a fine of $300 per day, which is seen as too low.

On a separate note, Walmart (WMT) is planning to use UnitedHealth's services in its 3-state pilot telehealth program, which will dramatically reduce the copay to $4 from $49 - the retailer's previous telehealth offerings cost. The telehealth $4 copay pilot services will be available to employees in Colorado, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

UnitedHealth has topped earnings estimates in the last four quarters. After reporting third-quarter results, the company bumped up 2019 adjusted EPS expectations to $14.90-$15.00 from 14.70-$14.90. Analysts are modeling earnings of $14.96 per share.

The stock closed Friday's trade at $276.84, not far from its 52-week high of $287.94. In the past 52 weeks, the stock touched a low of $208.07.