Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Stock Holdings in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its holdings in shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,795 shares of the company’s stock after selling 185 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in McKesson were worth $5,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sachetta LLC acquired a new position in shares of McKesson during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of McKesson during the first quarter worth $28,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in McKesson in the first quarter valued at $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in McKesson in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC raised its holdings in McKesson by 42.9% in the fourth quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 85.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on MCK. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of McKesson from $590.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of McKesson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Leerink Partners cut their price target on shares of McKesson from $670.00 to $665.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of McKesson from $576.00 to $535.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of McKesson from $540.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, McKesson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $620.93.

McKesson Stock Performance

McKesson stock opened at $507.95 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $561.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $557.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.44. McKesson Co. has a one year low of $431.35 and a one year high of $637.51.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $7.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.21 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $79.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $82.53 billion. McKesson had a net margin of 0.94% and a negative return on equity of 242.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that McKesson Co. will post 32.11 earnings per share for the current year.

McKesson Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 2nd will be given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This is a positive change from McKesson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.69%.

Insider Activity at McKesson

In related news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,753 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.10, for a total value of $2,105,808.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 78,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,094,604.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 11,259 shares of company stock worth $6,635,492 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

McKesson 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.