UnitedHealth Group sees membership decline - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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billion to $2.2 billion. UnitedHealth’s stock, trading at around 40 percent of the valuwe it was at the endof 2007, coupled with its low annualizer dividend rate, put the company’s return to shareholderx 75th for 2008. The company took a hit when announcinygan $895 million settlement of a shareholder lawsuit related to a stock-optionss scandal involving former CEO William McGuire. Legal settlement s and rising medical costs cutinto second-quarter earnings for which reported earnings of $337 milliom for the period, down from $1.
23 billion the previous year largely due to the settlement of two class-action lawsuits that resulted in a totao pretax charge of $922 The news hasn’t all been bad. UnitedHealth did see gainss in its Health Care Services and OptumHealth companiez during thethird quarter. Like many othert companies, however, UnitedHealth has been hit by the economy. It has seen membership decreases due to layoffsand “that puts pressure on revenues and profitability,” said Davifd Toung, a research analyst with The Minnetonka-based health insureer in early December slightly raised the bottom rangre of its guidance for 2009 to $85 billion from $84 while keeping its profit outlook the same at $2.
9p0 to $3.15 per share.