Moody’s shifts Aetna view to stable

Moody’s Investors Service said it revised the outlook for Aetna Inc. to stable from negative following Moody’s recent affirmation of CVS Health’s Baa2 senior debt rating and outlook change to stable from negative.

“Aetna and its subsidiaries, which are operating subsidiaries of CVS, no longer issue debt as financing is managed at the CVS holding company level,” Moody’s said in a press release.

When CVS’s acquisition of Aetna closed in 2018, CVS’ debt/EBITDA was 4.6x. “Since then, CVS has repaid $13.8 billion and Moody’s estimates that debt/EBITDA will be 4x by year-end 2020 and improve to 3.5x by year-end 2022. Given this progress, Moody’s concludes that a stable outlook is now warranted. The ratings of CVS and Aetna are likely to remain aligned absent a significant divergence in performance at the two companies,” the agency said.

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