BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Raises Stake in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its stake in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) by 57.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 25,170 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,233 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in McKesson were worth $14,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of McKesson during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in McKesson during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in McKesson during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of McKesson in the 1st quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its position in shares of McKesson by 42.9% during the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 80 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

McKesson Trading Down 4.9 %

Shares of NYSE MCK opened at $480.49 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $62.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.47, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.44. McKesson Co. has a 12 month low of $431.35 and a 12 month high of $637.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $556.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $556.74.

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

McKesson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Monday, September 2nd will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This is a boost from McKesson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 12.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on MCK. Argus lifted their price objective on McKesson from $570.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on McKesson from $656.00 to $661.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of McKesson from $540.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $531.00 price target (down from $603.00) on shares of McKesson in a report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $610.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $580.92, for a total transaction of $2,180,192.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 86,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,012,564.64. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,259 shares of company stock worth $6,635,492. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.