Investors with a lot of money to spend have taken a bearish stance on UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH).

And retail traders should know.

We noticed this today when the trades showed up on publicly available options history that we track here at Benzinga.

Whether these are institutions or just wealthy individuals, we don't know. But when something this big happens with UNH, it often means somebody knows something is about to happen.

So how do we know what these investors just did?

Today, Benzinga's options scanner spotted 56 uncommon options trades for UnitedHealth Group.

This isn't normal.

The overall sentiment of these big-money traders is split between 32% bullish and 57%, bearish.

Out of all of the special options we uncovered, 15 are puts, for a total amount of $1,690,142, and 41 are calls, for a total amount of $3,395,783.

What's The Price Target?

After evaluating the trading volumes and Open Interest, it's evident that the major market movers are focusing on a price band between $145.0 and $560.0 for UnitedHealth Group, spanning the last three months.

Volume & Open Interest Development

Looking at the volume and open interest is a powerful move while trading options. This data can help you track the liquidity and interest for UnitedHealth Group's options for a given strike price. Below, we can observe the evolution of the volume and open interest of calls and puts, respectively, for all of UnitedHealth Group's whale trades within a strike price range from $145.0 to $560.0 in the last 30 days.

UnitedHealth Group Option Volume And Open Interest Over Last 30 Days

Noteworthy Options Activity:

Symbol	PUT/CALL	Trade Type	Sentiment	Exp. Date	Ask	Bid	Price	Strike Price	Total Trade Price	Open Interest	Volume
UNH	PUT	TRADE	BEARISH	06/18/26	$11.75	$11.3	$11.68	$260.00	$876.0K	3.4K	769
UNH	PUT	TRADE	NEUTRAL	01/15/27	$24.45	$23.9	$24.2	$260.00	$242.0K	3.3K	200
UNH	CALL	SWEEP	BEARISH	02/20/26	$5.05	$4.8	$4.8	$285.00	$240.0K	2.4K	525
UNH	CALL	SWEEP	BULLISH	01/15/27	$56.6	$56.2	$56.6	$260.00	$203.7K	11.2K	7
UNH	CALL	SWEEP	BEARISH	06/18/26	$6.4	$6.3	$6.3	$350.00	$157.5K	6.1K	281

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group is one of the largest private health insurers and provides medical benefits to about 51 million members globally, including 1 million outside the US as of December 2024. As a leader in employer-sponsored, self-directed, and government-backed insurance plans, UnitedHealth has obtained massive scale in medical insurance. Along with its insurance assets, UnitedHealth's Optum franchises help create a healthcare services colossus that spans everything from pharmaceutical benefits to providing outpatient care and analytics to both affiliated and third-party customers.

Following our analysis of the options activities associated with UnitedHealth Group, we pivot to a closer look at the company's own performance.

Present Market Standing of UnitedHealth Group

• With a trading volume of 3,554,078, the price of UNH is down by -0.32%, reaching $290.31.
• Current RSI values indicate that the stock is may be approaching oversold.
• Next earnings report is scheduled for 57 days from now.

What Analysts Are Saying About UnitedHealth Group

5 market experts have recently issued ratings for this stock, with a consensus target price of $375.8.

• An analyst from Wells Fargo has decided to maintain their Overweight rating on UnitedHealth Group, which currently sits at a price target of $370.
• An analyst from Oppenheimer persists with their Outperform rating on UnitedHealth Group, maintaining a target price of $385.
• An analyst from Truist Securities persists with their Buy rating on UnitedHealth Group, maintaining a target price of $370.
• An analyst from Morgan Stanley persists with their Overweight rating on UnitedHealth Group, maintaining a target price of $409.
• An analyst from Leerink Partners has decided to maintain their Outperform rating on UnitedHealth Group, which currently sits at a price target of $345.

Options are a riskier asset compared to just trading the stock, but they have higher profit potential. Serious options traders manage this risk by educating themselves daily, scaling in and out of trades, following more than one indicator, and following the markets closely.