UnitedHealth Group Inc’s share price down, appoints CFO Wichmann as President as a step of further reorganization

UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest health insurer in the U.S., announced an executive reorganization. The company revealed in an official statement that its Chief Financial Officer, David Wichmann, is to become President with an immediate effect.

The Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hemsley said in the statement, cited by Bloomberg: “We are bringing forward the next generation of leaders.” Mr. Hemsley will no longer have the President title, but he will keep his functions to supervise all businesses of the company.

Mr. Wichmann is to replace Gail Boudreaux on the position, which is to provide him with management and control of the insurance products division of the company, called UnitedHealthcare. Accordong to the statement of the companys CEO, Ms. Boudreaux is to leave UnitedHealth after the performance goals, targeted in 2008, are met.

Larry C. Renfro, on the other hand, is planned to remain at the position of Chief Executive Officer of the health-services business of the company, called Optum. In addition, he is to control some other areas of UnitedHealth such as key customers relationships and growth efforts.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the reorganization changes, which are to be conducted, were commented by one of the analysts at Barclays, Jorshua Raskin, who said that these moves seem to be “the first step in a logical transition that takes a couple of years”. Mr. Raskin also explained that he sees Mr. Wichmann and Mr. Renfro as potential successors to the current Chief Executive Officer of UnitedHealth. Mr. Raskin also added that Mr. Wichman “has much broader experience at UnitedHealth and is eight years younger”, which according to him makes him the more suitable option for a successor of Hemsley.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. was 0.01% down to close at $95.68 per share yesterday, marking a one-year increase of 36.78%. The company is valued at $90.95 billion. According to CNN Money, the 23 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for UnitedHealth Group Inc. have a median target of $95.00, with a high estimate of $121.00 and a low estimate of $79.00. The median estimate represents a -0.71% decrease from the last price of $95.68.