Stock Performance

Here’s how major health insurers’ stock performed in June 2022. UnitedHealth Group had the highest closing stock price among major commercial insurers as of June 30, 2022, at $513.63. Molina Healthcare, Inc. had the highest closing stock price among major Medicaid insurers at $279.61.

Centene Corp. revealed during its June 17 investor day that it plans to reduce by 65% the amount of office space it leases across the United States as a way to cut costs and appease employees who prefer working from home. Like many large employers, other health insurers have followed suit — or are considering doing so — as they adjust to an office environment that looks much different than was standard before COVID-19.

Several major insurance companies declined to discuss their office leasing plans when contacted this week by AIS Health, a division of MMIT. But most, if not all, are actively evaluating their real estate footprints, according to Dan Mendelson, the CEO of Morgan Health, JPMorgan Chase Co.’s health care arm.

During its investor update on June 17, Centene Corp. announced it had increased its adjusted diluted full-year earnings per share (EPS) guidance to between $5.55 and $5.70, up from its April range of between $5.40 and $5.55. The health insurance company also raised its projected annual premium and service revenues by $2 billion to between $134.3 billion and $136.3 billion.

Centene’s executives attributed much of the increase to its better-than-expected performance, particularly in the health insurance exchange market, as well as the delay in the restart of Medicaid eligibility redeterminations.

Here’s how major health insurers’ stock performed in May 2022. Anthem, Inc. had the highest closing stock price among major commercial insurers as of May 31, 2022, at $509.61. Molina Healthcare, Inc. had the highest closing stock price among major Medicaid insurers at $290.22.

Startup insurers Oscar Health, Inc. and Bright Health Group, Inc. have decided they will no longer sell individual and/or family plans in certain states after this year. Ari Gottlieb, a principal at consulting firm A2 Strategy Group, tells AIS Health that those are signs the companies are looking to stem large losses and shore up their businesses as their stock prices fall and raising additional capital becomes harder.

Gottlieb says he anticipates Cigna Corp, which invested in Oscar earlier this year, could buy the company as soon as the end of the year. The fate of Bright remains unknown, although Gottlieb does not see Oscar, Bright or the two other publicly traded startup insurers (Alignment Healthcare and Clover Health Investments Corp.) becoming profitable anytime soon. Gottleib says Cigna may buy Bright also.

Cigna Corp. pleased Wall Street with its first-quarter 2022 financial results, touting a solid increase in commercial self-funded membership and a better-than-projected medical loss ratio (MLR) of 81.5%.

The insurer posted first-quarter 2022 net income of $1.18 billion ($3.68 per share) on revenue of $44.0 billion, up from net income of $1.16 billion ($3.30 per share) on revenue of $40.1 billion for the same period in 2021.

Cigna’s self-funded commercial membership rose 9% to 12.5 million through March 31, while insured commercial membership rose 2% to 2.2 million. In all, Cigna had 17.8 million medical members on March 31, 2022, up about 700,000 or 4% from Dec. 31, 2021, when it stood at 16.7 million.

CVS Health Corp. posted robust financial results in the first quarter of this year, with revenues increasing by 11.2% to $76.8 billion. Wall Street praised the firm — particularly its Aetna health insurance division — for delivering strong results, and predicted the Caremark PBM would overcome disappointing results for the first quarter.

The integrated health care company’s quarterly adjusted operating income was $4.48 billion, increasing nearly 7% year-over-year from the first quarter of 2021.

Here’s how major health insurers’ stock performed in April 2022. UnitedHealth Group had the highest closing stock price among major commercial insurers as of April 29, 2022, at $508.55. Molina Healthcare, Inc. had the highest closing stock price among major Medicaid insurers at $313.45.

UnitedHealth Group on April 14 reported first-quarter 2022 financial results that beat Wall Street expectations and led the health care behemoth to raise its full-year earnings guidance. The firm also offered insights into health care utilization trends that could serve as good news for the entire industry, as executives said they still have not seen evidence of members’ health conditions deteriorating because of care deferred during the pandemic.

Overall, care utilization in the quarter was roughly at baseline levels, Chief Financial Officer John Rex said during UnitedHealth’s conference call to discuss quarterly results. With the Omicron variant-driven surge early in the year, the company recorded about 40,000 COVID-19-related hospitalizations in January — “the highest of any month since the onset of the pandemic,” Rex said. But by March, hospitalizations declined to around 2,000 as the surge receded.

Here’s how major health insurers’ stock performed in March 2022. UnitedHealth Group had the highest closing stock price among major commercial insurers as of March 31, 2022, at $509.97. Molina Healthcare, Inc. had the highest closing stock price among major Medicaid insurers at $333.59.