UnitedHealth Group’s board has authorized a quarterly cash dividend of $2.10 a share, giving the health-insurance giant a 3.21% yield and extending its record of double-digit dividend growth. The announcement sent the stock up about 3.1% to the high-$270s in afternoon New York trading, making it the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s strongest performer on the day. A 2× leveraged exchange-traded fund tied to the insurer has climbed 21% over the past five sessions as the shares rebound from recent lows. The higher payout follows the chief executive officer’s $25 million open-market share purchase in May and comes as insurers face rising medical costs and steep Affordable Care Act premium requests for 2026, with preliminary filings showing median increases of 18% and some proposals topping 60%.