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Business briefs: Election impact on local stocks, hospital scorecard and more

Margie Manning

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One of the big winners after Tuesday’s election was WellCare Health Plans Inc. The stock price of the Tampa-based managed healthcare company (NYSE: WCG) jumped 5.7 percent Wednesday to $275.21 a share, although the price fell back a bit in early trading Thursday.

Insurers rejoiced as the Affordable Care Act was poised to remain the law of the land and Medicaid was expanded in several states, Fortune said.

Stock price fluctuations create or diminish millions of dollars in wealth, at least on paper, for shareholders and employees who hold company stock in their retirement plans.

Few other local publicly stocks did as well in immediate post-election trading. Clearwater-based IT distributor Tech Data (NASDAQ: TECD) stock dropped 0.2 percent, while Jabil (NYSE: JBL), a St. Petersburg-based manufacturing services company, was up just 0.3 percent on Wednesday. Both companies have a lot of overseas activity, and a further ratcheting up of measures against China remains a risk, according to MSN.

The financial sector is on shaky ground with Democrats controlling the House, because they might block further deregulation efforts, MSN said.

The stock price of Raymond James Financial (NYSE: RJF) in St. Petersburg was up just 0.1 percent on Wednesday.

Hospital grades

Bayfront Health St. Petersburg, the largest hospital in St. Pete, got a D on a newly released grade card from The Leapfrog Group.

Bayfront performed below average on practices to prevent errors, bed sores and patients falls, as well as MRSA infections, but it was average or above on other types of infections.

Other Pinellas County hospitals and their grades include:

St. Anthony’s Hospital, C

Northside Hospital, B

St. Petersburg General Hospital, C

Palms of Pasadena Hospital, C

Largo Medical Center, B

Morton Plant Hospital, B

Mease Dunedin Hospital, B

Mease Countryside Hospital, C

Florida Hospital North Pinellas, A

Condo development

Plaza Construction has been selected as the builder for 357 on 5th, a luxury condominium tower under development in downtown St. Petersburg.

357 on 5th

The condo tower is located next to the Innovation District and includes 12 homes, including three penthouses. Prices will range from the $500’s to $1.35 million.

357 on 5th is being developed by Blue Night Owl and designed by Place Architects.

“Our vision for 357 on 5th is to create luxurious homes in a culturally-forward, peaceful environment close to everything downtown St. Pete living has to offer,” said Dr. Julie Kessel, who is on the development team. “We are certain that Plaza Construction will turn our development into beautiful, highly desired homes to the affluent buyer.”

Nick Janovsky of Smith & Associates Real Estate is the exclusive listing agent for the property, which is scheduled to open in December 2019.

Boomers retire

One-third of baby boomers who are business owners are expected to transition the ownership of their business in the next five years.

But more than one-third (36 percent) do not have a specific plan for how to transition their business, and 21 percent admit that they are not financially prepared for retirement, according to a new survey by SunTrust Banks Inc. (NYSE: STI).

More than two in five (42 percent) of surveyed business owners have considered a purchase by a private equity firm or a third-party investor, followed by passing the company down to the next generation of their family (38 percent), and employees buying ownership (18 percent) as the next phase of the ownership of their business.

SunTrust is one of the largest banks in the Tampa Bay area.

 

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