Top Health Care Stocks
JNJ +1.43%
PFE +1.22%
ABT +0.48%
MRK -0.06%
AMGN -0.20%
Health care stocks were rising Thursday, including a more than 0.4% gain for the NYSE Health Care Index in recent trading. Shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 also were up over 0.4% as a group while the Nasdaq Biotechnology index was posting a 0.2% advance.
Among health care stocks moving on news:
+ Agilent Technologies ( A ) has climbed back to positive ground Thursday afternoon, erasing a nearly 1% slide earlier in the session to a session low of $69.23 a share that followed the diagnostics and life sciences company announcing a deal to acquire Iowa-based Advanced Analytical Technologies for $250 million. Advanced Analytical provides capillary electrophoresis services. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing condition.
In other sector news:
- Express Scripts ( ESRX ) raced to a three-year high on Thursday, climbing almost 16% to its highest price since January 2015 at $85.07 a share, after the pharmacy-benefits company agreed to a $67 billion buyout offer from health care insurer Cigna ( CI ) for $67 billion. The deal values Express Scripts at $54 million, with its shareholders receiving $48.75 in cash and 0.2434 of a Cigna share for each share they now own. Cigna also will assume about $15 billion in Express Scripts debt, boosting the total transaction to $67 billion. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year.
- Vascular Biogenics ( VBLT ) plunged to a record low on Thursday, sinking over 66% to a worst-ever $2.30 a share, after saying a combination of its VB-11 drug candidate and bevacizumab, a monoclonal antibody used treat various forms of cancer, failed to improve overall survival during phase III testing in patients with recurrent glioblastoma compared with bevacizumab alone.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
