Major health insurance stocks rose across the board Monday, the first day of trading since reports revealed Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) has discussed an acquisition of Humana (NYSE: HUM).
Shares of Anthem (NYSE: ANTM), UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) and Medicaid-provider Centene (NASDAQ: CELG) all traded roughly 2% higher before the bell.
Though discussions remain in early stages, sources told the media that Wal-Mart is interested in strengthening its existing relationship with Humana amid a rush of deal speculation in the industry.
People familiar with the matter cautioned that details of the deal remained vague and that it's possible one may never materialize.
Still, any such move by Wal-Mart heightens attention on the remaining health insurance companies as potential partners for larger retailers or other large companies in their efforts to expand into other sectors.
CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) announced a $69-billion deal to buy insurer Aetna (NYSE: AET) in December. That deal would combine CVS pharmacies, pharmacy benefit manager platform and Aetna's insurance business.
Online retail behemoth Amazon, J.P. Morgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway have also teamed up to tackle rising employee health care costs. Some media outlets have also reported that Amazon has participated in exploratory talks with generic drug makers.
Humana announced last week that it has completed the $1-billion accelerated share repurchase program announced on December 22, 2017. Under the terms of the program, the company repurchased a total of approximately 3,737,665 shares at an average price of $267.55 per share.
Shares in Humana sprang up $15.84, or 5.9%, to $284.67, while those in Wal-Mart dove $1.17, or 1.3%, to $87.80.
