There was a senior management shakeup at health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group last week. Gail Boudreaux is out as the executive vice president and CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the health plan arm of the company. The company's stock is up 28 percent on the year, but analysts following the company said UnitedHealthcare's recent performance against peers made the company ripe for personnel change.
The beneficiary may be David Wichmann, UnitedHealth Group's current chief financial officer, who will transition to president as part of a new management group that will form an Office of the Chief Executive, all of whom will continue to report to CEO Stephen Hemsley.
Peter Costa, a senior analyst at Wells Fargo, wrote in a note: "We believe the increased role for Wichmann shows he has continued to deliver for UNH … and perhaps setting him up as the likely successor to Hemsley."
More accessories at Polaris
Last week Medina-based Polaris Industries announced that it had acquired certain assets of LSI Products Inc. and Armor Holdings Inc., privately-held California-based companies that make and sell the Pro Armor brand of accessories for side-by-side vehicles and ATVs. The acquisition adds to Polaris' growing parts, garments and accessories business.
Earlier this year Polaris acquired Kolpin Outdoors Inc., a privately held maker of power sports accessories based in Wisconsin.
Mark Smith, who covers Polaris for Minneapolis-based Feltl and Company, wrote a short note on the Pro Armor deal that was announced Wednesday. "We like Polaris's acquisition strategy of buying best in class brands and think this will add slightly to profitability in 2015 and beyond."
Patrick Kennedy
