McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• McKesson Corporation has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from fourteen brokerages, with an average target price of approximately $718.73.
• The company reported quarterly earnings per share of $8.26, slightly missing analysts' expectations, but showed a 23.4% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• McKesson declared a quarterly dividend of $0.82 per share, marking an increase from the previous $0.71 dividend, with a dividend yield of 0.5%.

Shares of McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $718.7273.

MCK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $810.00 target price (up from $770.00) on shares of McKesson in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $766.00 price target on McKesson and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on McKesson from $755.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Cowen reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of McKesson in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on McKesson from $760.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other McKesson news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 1,248 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $717.30, for a total transaction of $895,190.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,880,043.30. This represents a 32.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 19,371 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $708.09, for a total value of $13,716,411.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 27,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,735,884.48. The trade was a 41.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 52,817 shares of company stock worth $37,461,210 in the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McKesson

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in McKesson by 2.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,072,090 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,846,186,000 after acquiring an additional 232,286 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in McKesson by 8.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 222,496 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in McKesson by 4.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,820,724 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,057,065,000 after acquiring an additional 112,224 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 2,389,992 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in McKesson by 0.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,542,382 shares of the company's stock worth $1,038,008,000 after purchasing an additional 10,179 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.07% of the company's stock.

McKesson Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:MCK traded down $13.88 on Friday, reaching $658.89. The company had a trading volume of 1,247,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 896,224. McKesson has a 52-week low of $464.42 and a 52-week high of $737.89. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $713.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $680.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.95 billion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 0.50.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $8.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $8.33 by ($0.07). McKesson had a negative return on equity of 196.66% and a net margin of 0.84%. The business had revenue of $97.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $95.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.88 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 23.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that McKesson will post 32.77 earnings per share for the current year.

McKesson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.82 dividend. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This is a positive change from McKesson's previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. McKesson's payout ratio is currently 11.32%.

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.