Cigna Still Expects Cash For M&A, Buybacks In 2010 -President
14 Septembre 2009 - 6:27PM
Dow Jones News
Cigna Corp. (CI) President and Chief Operating Officer David
Cordani reiterated at a conference Monday that the health insurer
expects to have surplus cash to pursue mergers and acquisitions
and/or share buybacks next year.
Cordani, who will be taking over as chief executive of Cigna
Jan. 1, said this expectation is based on reasonable performance in
the marketplace.
Cigna's priorities for its cash continue to be pursuing organic
growth and mergers and acquisitions first, and if those don't pan
out, the company will use its cash for buybacks, Cigna spokesman
Chris Curran told Dow Jones Newswires.
The company had recently said on a conference call that it hopes
to pursue buybacks next year, after not being able to do them in
2009.
Shares of Cigna were recently up 1% to $31.65, while other
health insurance stocks were trading lower, with Coventry Health
Care Inc. (CVH) down 0.5% to $24.53, as WellPoint Inc. (WLP) lost
0.2% to $53.94.
-By Jennifer Hoyt Cummings, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2474;
jennifer.cummings@dowjones.com