In a report released today, Joseph France from Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) to Buy, with a price target of $140. The company’s shares closed yesterday at $117.76.
France observed, “Earnings upside. We expect AET’s earnings to accelerate post-merger, due to straightforward eliminations of redundancy ($1 billion by 2018) and stronger networks ($250 million). Our standalone AET EPS estimates are $7.60 for 2015 (vs. our prior $7.40 and the $7.52 FactSet consensus), $8.30 for 2016 (vs. $8.21 consensus), $9.25 for 2017 (vs. $9.03 consensus) and $10.00 for 2018. Our initial pro forma estimates are $8.25 for 2016, $10.00 for 2017 and $12.00 for 2018.”
Currently, the analyst consensus on Aetna Inc. is Moderate Buy and the average price target is $139, representing a 18.0% upside. In a report issued on September 16, J.P. Morgan also initiated coverage with a Buy rating on the stock with a $144 price target.
Aetna Inc.`s market cap is currently $40.99B and has a P/E ratio of 17.8. The company has a book value ratio of 2.66%.
Financial bloggers on sites such as SeekingAlpha, wsobserver.com and others, seem to have a Positive view on AET. When evaluating the opinions of financial bloggers over the last 3 months, 86% of bloggers have indicated a Bullish sentiment, while 14% have indicated a Bearish sentiment. The average blogger Bullish sentiment in the sector is 75% which is less positive than the blogger sentiment of AET.
Unlike Cantor Fitzgerald`s latest rating, based on the recent corporate insider activity of 42 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. Last month, Franklin Barbara Hackman, a a Director at AET sold 2,064 shares for a total of $244,501.
France is a 5-star analyst with an average return of 20.5% and a 73.9% success rate. France covers the Healthcare sector, focusing on stocks such as WellCare Health Plans, Coventry Health Care, and Envision Healthcare.
Aetna Inc. is a health care benefit company, which offers traditional and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and disability plans.