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Shares of Humana Inc. rallied on Monday, as the health insurer took the rare step of making a securities filing to announce it is entering a so-called “quiet period.” The Louisville, Ky. company, which WSJ reported last month is exploring a possible sale, said in an 8-K filing Monday that it would go dark for almost two months, until it reports earnings on July 29. (Chasan, 6/8)

Humana has pulled out of a major health care conference and said it will not comment on rumors of a merger, actions that will likely fuel Wall Street speculation that the insurer is part of a developing deal. Shares of the Medicare Advantage coverage provider, which hit an all-time high late last month, rose Monday while broader indexes slipped. (Murphy, 6/8)

Humana self-imposed a quiet period starting Monday until the end of July in an attempt to quell chatter that it'd an acquisition target. But the Louisville, Ky.-based health insurer stoked the flames further after it pulled out of a large industry conference. Reports surfaced last month that Humana hired investment bank Goldman Sachs Group to explore a potential sale. Aetna and Cigna Corp. were reportedly among the interested buyers. Humana, a dominant Medicare Advantage insurer, has missed Wall Street estimates several times the past two years and is undergoing a federal probe related to its Medicare business. (Herman, 6/8)

A cardiac biomarker laboratory that went from startup to industry giant in a few short years by paying doctors for blood samples has filed for bankruptcy protection. The filing by Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc. comes two months after the company reached an agreement with the Justice Department to settle a civil investigation into whether its payments to doctors amounted to kickbacks to induce them to order its tests. Under the pact, HDL agreed to pay nearly $50 million but denied wrongdoing. (Carreyrou and Stech, 6/8)