Wall Street's M&A Chatter From March 10-12

The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Friday March 10 through Sunday March 12, 2017:

Gilead Said to be Near Bid for Incyte

The Rumor:

Incyte Corporation INCY shares spike sharply higher Friday on a report from Street Insider that Gilead Sciences, Inc. GILD is close to making an offer for the biotech company. That report followed a comment from Barclays analyst Geoffrey Meacham that Gilead consider companies with pipelines like those of Incyte, and also Tesaro TSRO and Clovis Oncology CLVS.

Later in the day, Incyte filed a prospectus for 34 million shares owned by Baker Bros.

Incyte closed at $149.24, up $11.22 and traded at $152.10 after-hours.

Hearing Takeover Chatter in Palo Alto Shares Spike Higher to Session Highs as Traders Circulating Unconfirmed Takeover Chatter

The Rumor:

Shares of Palo Alto Networks Inc PANW spiked to a high of $119.40 on Friday on unconfirmed market chatter of a potential offer from IBM IBM.

Palo Alto is a frequent takeover name, with Cisco CSCO also mentioned as a potential acquirer.

Palo Alto closed at $118.83, up $3.83.

ExxonMobil Gauges Interest of BP's Major Shareholders for Potential Takeover

The Rumor:

Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM has contacted BP’s BP major shareholders, which include BlackRock and Vanguard, regarding interest in a potential acquisition, according to the Evening Standard. Sources say a deal could be consummated at approximately £120 billion ($146 billion), which would make it the largest M&A deal of all time. At Friday's close, BP had a market cap of $113.42 billion.

Chevron CVX is also considered to be a potential buyer. Exxon and BP declined comment on the rumor.

BP closed at $34.33, up $0.83.