03:50 PM EST, 03/06/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We lower our 12-month target by $54 to $517, an 18.6x multiple of our 2024 EPS estimate (down by $0.05 to $27.80; we cut our 2025 estimate by $0.13 to $31.36), a premium to managed health care peers but below UNH's historical average. A significant cyberattack on UNH's Change Healthcare business (part of Optum) on February 21 continues to disrupt pharmacies, payments, and claims nationwide. Positively, UNH sees 90% of medical claims uninterrupted and expects to reach 95% next week. UNH also views pharmacy claims near normal volume. HHS released guidance from CMS encouraging workarounds such as removing prior authorizations and using alternative electronic data interchanges (EDI). We have seen shares of other health care names like HCA Healthcare (HCA 323 ***) and Henry Schein (HSIC 76 ***) recover from recent cyberattacks, and we ultimately expect UNH to restore full operations. However, we think risks to Optum's 2024 financial results merit some caution on shares until more information is known.