UnitedHealth’s $4.05B Volume Ranks 11th as Shares Climb Despite 40.7% YTD Drop and Berkshire’s $1.57B Bet

On August 21, 2025, UnitedHealth (UNH) surged 1.17% with a trading volume of $4.05 billion, ranking 11th in market activity. The stock has declined 40.7% year-to-date amid sector-wide challenges, including rising medical costs and regulatory pressures. Recent earnings estimates for the current fiscal year show a -40.1% year-over-year decline, with the Zacks Consensus Estimate dropping 24.2% over the past month. Despite this, revenue growth projections remain positive, with $113.68 billion expected for the current quarter, reflecting a 12.8% annual increase.

Berkshire Hathaway’s $1.57 billion stake in UNH, disclosed in June 2025, signaled renewed institutional confidence. Warren Buffett’s investment aligns with UnitedHealth’s strong cash flow generation, brand equity, and recurring premium model, despite recent earnings misses and margin compression. The company’s vertical integration through UnitedHealthcare and Optum provides leverage in cost management, while the Amedisys acquisition strengthens its in-home care capabilities. Analysts note that UNH’s forward P/E of 17.23x suggests undervaluation compared to peers, though its Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) indicates near-term underperformance risks.

UnitedHealth’s operating costs rose 13.2% year-to-date, driving a 430-basis-point increase in its medical cost ratio to 89.4% in Q2 2025. However, management projects $14.6 billion in net earnings for 2025, up from $14.4 billion in 2024. Share buybacks and dividend growth remain key shareholder value drivers, with insiders purchasing $30 million in shares during the sell-off. Analysts at BofA raised UNH’s price target to $325, reflecting cautious optimism about its long-term resilience.

The backtested strategy of buying top 500 volume stocks and holding for one day from 2022 yielded a 0.98% average daily return, with a 31.52% total return over 365 days. The approach showed best performance in June 2023 (+7.02%) and worst in September 2022 (-4.20%), highlighting its sensitivity to market volatility. This underscores the importance of short-term momentum in high-volume stocks like UNH during periods of sector turbulence.