Health Insurers Rise On Humana Inc. Merger Report

Health insurers were generally higher Friday on a report that Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) hired advisors to consider a sale.http://www.wsj.com/articles/humana-considers-sale-of-company-1432919621Humana tapped Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to evaluate potential offers from Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI) and Aetna Inc. (NYSE: 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. (NYSE: 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. (NYSE: CNC), with a market cap of about $8.96 billion, rose about 3.7 percent Friday afternoon to $75.07.Anthem Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) shares increased more than 2 percent while UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) picked up nearly as much. Other health insurance concerns rose by lesser amounts.