McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $610.86.

Several analysts have recently commented on MCK shares. Baird R W lowered McKesson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Leerink Partners decreased their price target on McKesson from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on McKesson from $596.00 to $616.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on shares of McKesson from $660.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of McKesson from $623.00 to $579.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th.

McKesson Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MCK opened at $505.59 on Friday. McKesson has a 12-month low of $431.35 and a 12-month high of $637.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $528.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $552.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.56 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.44.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $7.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.21 by $0.67. McKesson had a negative return on equity of 242.57% and a net margin of 0.94%. The company had revenue of $79.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $82.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $7.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that McKesson will post 32.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McKesson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. This is a positive change from McKesson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.70%.

Insider Transactions at McKesson

In other news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,753 shares of McKesson stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.03, for a total transaction of $2,349,490.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 82,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,546,684.17. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On McKesson

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in McKesson by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 425,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $197,127,000 after purchasing an additional 46,953 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in McKesson by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC grew its position in shares of McKesson by 40.7% in the fourth quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 2,538 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 734 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of McKesson during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, SageView Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of McKesson during the 4th quarter worth about $710,000. 85.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

McKesson Company Profile

McKesson Corporation provides healthcare services in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Pharmaceutical, Prescription Technology Solutions (RxTS), Medical-Surgical Solutions, and International. The U.S. Pharmaceutical segment distributes branded, generic, specialty, biosimilar and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs, and other healthcare-related products.