McKesson (NYSE:MCK) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of McKesson (NYSE:MCK) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of McKesson from $540.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Leerink Partners cut their target price on shares of McKesson from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of McKesson from $660.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Baird R W lowered shares of McKesson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of McKesson from $670.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $625.64.

McKesson Price Performance

McKesson stock opened at $613.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $79.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.75, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.44. McKesson has a 1 year low of $431.35 and a 1 year high of $637.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $513.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $551.60.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $7.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.89 by $0.18. McKesson had a net margin of 0.77% and a negative return on equity of 243.82%. The firm had revenue of $93.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.33 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.23 earnings per share. McKesson’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that McKesson will post 31.92 EPS for the current year.

McKesson Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,753 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.10, for a total transaction of $2,105,808.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,094,604.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of McKesson

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of McKesson by 1.1% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,362,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,342,190,000 after acquiring an additional 46,659 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of McKesson by 2.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,297,620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $757,862,000 after acquiring an additional 36,583 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of McKesson in the first quarter valued at about $669,326,000. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of McKesson by 4.1% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,183,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $635,763,000 after acquiring an additional 47,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in McKesson by 7.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 857,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,879,000 after purchasing an additional 62,875 shares in the last quarter. 85.07% of the stock is currently owned by 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.