McKesson (NYSE:MCK) Sets New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $708.00 to $805.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. McKesson traded as high as $715.21 and last traded at $712.73, with a volume of 965882 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $707.28.

MCK has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on McKesson from $642.00 to $745.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Citigroup cut their price target on McKesson from $713.00 to $677.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of McKesson from $641.00 to $691.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of McKesson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of McKesson from $630.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $681.00.

Insider Transactions at McKesson

In other news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 188 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.59, for a total value of $114,602.92. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,051 shares in the company, valued at $640,679.09. This represents a 15.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 8,961 shares of McKesson stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.66, for a total value of $5,382,514.26. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 69,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,820,952.50. This represents a 11.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 18,110 shares of company stock valued at $10,855,706 in the last quarter. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of McKesson by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,847,385 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,622,754,000 after buying an additional 222,496 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of McKesson by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,663,303 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,513,195,000 after purchasing an additional 10,015 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of McKesson by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,620,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,493,704,000 after purchasing an additional 114,396 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of McKesson by 75,632.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,393,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,610,567,000 after purchasing an additional 2,389,992 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in McKesson in the fourth quarter valued at $1,200,361,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

McKesson Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $669.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $611.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.55 billion, a PE ratio of 32.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.49.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $8.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $8.60 by ($0.57). McKesson had a negative return on equity of 181.26% and a net margin of 0.82%. On average, research analysts forecast that McKesson Co. will post 32.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McKesson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.40%. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.00%.

About McKesson

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.