Health insurers were generally higher Friday on a report that Humana Inc. HUM hired advisors to consider a sale.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/humana-considers-sale-of-company-1432919621
Humana tapped Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to evaluate potential offers from Cigna Corp. CI and Aetna Inc. AET, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited "people familiar with the matter."
Humana gained more than 17 percent to $209.31; Cigna was up 5.6 percent at $141.57 recently and Aetna changed hands at $118.30, up about 1.7 percent.
Humana Chief Executive Bruce D. Broussard reportedly declined to discuss mergers with Bloomberg earlier this month.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-29/humana-shares-spike-after-report-health-insurer-working-on-sale
"I do think the industry will consolidate," Broussard told Bloomberg.
Humana's move could touch off a widely expected wave of mergers in the industry, according to the Journal report.
Humana, which insures mostly Medicare customers, has a current market capitalization of about $31.7 billion versus
about $36.39 billion for Cigna and $41.66 billion for Aetna.
WellCare Health Plans Inc. WCG, also focused on government health insurance but with a market cap of only about $3.77 billion, gained nearly 4.9 percent recently to $86.45.
Centene Corp. CNC, with a market cap of about $8.96 billion, rose about 3.7 percent Friday afternoon to $75.07.
Anthem Inc. ANTM shares increased more than 2 percent while UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH picked up nearly as much.
Other health insurance concerns rose by lesser amounts.
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