Aetna (AET) Stock Falls, Prepares to Meet with DOJ on Humana Deal

Aetna (AET) stock is lower this afternoon as the company makes arrangements to meet with the Department of Justice on Friday.
By Rachel Aldrich ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Aetna (AET)  are dropping by 2.69% to $117.02 after reports that the company would be meeting with the Department of Justice on Friday to discuss its proposed takeover of competitor Humana (HUM).

The Hartford, CT-based healthcare company recently offered $37 billion to acquire rival health company Humana, but the deal raised issues with antitrust officials who were concerned the two companies had too much overlap.

At question are the companies' elderly health sectors, antitrust trade publication MLex said, according to Reuters. If the deal were to go through, the combined company would own at least half of all Medicare Advantage enrollees in 10 states and two-thirds in five others.

Aetna is preparing to sell assets in order to minimize this overlap.

"We continue to cooperate with the Department of Justice on their review," Aetna said to Bloomberg.

Shares of Humana have fallen 10.13% to $161.75 this afternoon.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings rated this stock as a "buy" with a ratings score of A+.

The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, attractive valuation levels, good cash flow from operations and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. TheStreet Ratings feels its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: AET

Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. 

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