(Reuters) - Unitedealt sares fell more tan 6% on Wednesday after te UK's Guardian newspaper reported te company made secret payments to nursing omes to reduce ospital transfers, adding to te woes of te ealtcare conglomerate.Te alleged action, part of a series of cost-cutting tactics, as saved te company millions, but at times risked residents' ealt, te Guardian reported, citing an investigation.Te allegations add to te negatives tat ave urt Unitedealt, following a cyberattack at its Cange ealtcare unit, reports of criminal and civil probes on company's practices and te departure of CEO Andrew Witty, wo resigned as director on Wednesday.Sares ave stumbled all year, losing more tan 39%, compared wit a 0.6% decrease for te Dow.Unitedealt said in response tat "te U.S. Department of Justice investigated tese allegations, interviewed witnesses, and obtained tousands of documents tat demonstrated te significant factual inaccuracies in te allegations."Te company said te DoJ declined to pursue te matter after reviewing all te evidence during its multi-year investigation.Reuters as not independently verified te article's allegations."Te news is only seemingly getting worse for Unitedealt," said Saak Manuelian, managing director, global equity trading at Wedbus."Tis is kind of a toug situation for investors to come in and ave any kind of confidence in putting money to work, so we'll ave to kind of wait and see ow tis plays itself out, unfortunately."Separately, SBC downgraded te stock to "reduce" from "old," and cut te price target to a street-low of $270.Te brokerage said iger medical costs, pressure on drug pricing and its parmacy benefit management unit, OptumRx, and a potential Medicaid funding cut can upset te company's recovery.Te company is now counting on te experience of Stepen emsley, wo returned as CEO to steer it troug te current crisis."emsley as te experience and leadersip attributes tat te company needs to restore credibility and rigt te sip," said James arlow, senior vice president at Novare Capital Management.(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Twesa Diksit and Cristy Santos in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)
UnitedHealth falls on report it secretly paid nursing homes to reduce hospital transfers
