Profits edged up for Cigna in the third quarter, driven by strong performance in the Bloomfield-based insurer’s Evernorth health-services division.
Evernorth, which includes the pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts, helped push Cigna’s third-quarter net income up 2.7% to $1.39 billion, or $3.78 per diluted share, compared to $1.35 billion, or $3.57 per diluted share, in the same period of 2019.
Total third-quarter revenues grew 6.2% to $40.9 billion. Both earnings and revenues beat analyst estimates, according to Zacks Investment Research.
Cigna credited the results on the recent creation of Evernorth, which brings together its pharmacy services, benefits management, care solutions and data and analytics units into a single subsidiary that serves health plans, employers, government organizations and providers.
“Our launch of Evernorth accelerates our strategy, broadens our reach and expands our opportunities for growth, further enhancing the value we deliver to the marketplace each and every day,” said Cigna President and CEO David M. Cordani.
Cigna paid $67 billion for Express Scripts in 2018, and launched the Evernorth subsidiary this September.
