After a court ruled that the proposed merger of Aetna (AET) and Humana (HUM), as currently outlined, would substantially lessen competition, Cantor analyst Joseph France said he sees downside risk for both companies. For Aetna, he believes the path to grow their Medicare Advantage business via other means will be more difficult than acquiring Humana, but he sees even greater downside risk for Human, as it has faced "greater distractions" over the past 18 months. France adds that he views this decision as a negative indicator for the Anthem (ANTM) and Cigna's (CI) merger as well.

Notable gainers among liquid option names this morning include UnitedHealth (UNH) $475.73 +30.10, Super Micro (SMCI) $914.90 +32.15, Humana (HUM) $324.54 +9.90, Morgan Stanley (MS) $89.42 +2.43, and Cencora Inc (COR) $238.39 +4.18.

Shares of health care facilities and managed care are in the spotlight on Monday after Florida announced late on Friday five winners of six-year Medicaid managed care contracts. Among the winners... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Wells Fargo raised the firm's price target on Centene (CNC) to $93 from $89 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm notes Florida intends to award Medicaid contracts to Centene, Elevance Health (ELV), Humana (HUM) and two provider-run plans. Clearly the most positive for Centene given recent disappointing RFP performance and likely most disappointing for Molina Healthcare (MOH) given expectation for share gains, Wells says.