Legal & General Group Plc Buys 36,583 Shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,297,620 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,583 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in McKesson were worth $757,862,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in McKesson by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,362,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,342,190,000 after buying an additional 46,659 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC raised its holdings in McKesson by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 1,997,963 shares of the company’s stock worth $925,017,000 after buying an additional 62,242 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of McKesson in the first quarter valued at about $669,326,000. Boston Partners lifted 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 purchasing an additional 47,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in McKesson by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 857,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $500,879,000 after acquiring an additional 62,875 shares during the last quarter. 85.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

McKesson Stock Performance

Shares of MCK stock opened at $488.35 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $552.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $555.67. The company has a market capitalization of $63.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.82, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.44. McKesson Co. has a 52-week low of $431.35 and a 52-week high of $637.51.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $7.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.21 by $0.67. The company had revenue of $79.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $82.53 billion. McKesson had a negative return on equity of 242.57% and a net margin of 0.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $7.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that McKesson Co. will post 32.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McKesson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This is an increase from McKesson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of McKesson from $540.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on McKesson from $623.00 to $579.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of McKesson from $660.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com downgraded McKesson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on McKesson from $576.00 to $535.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $613.36.

Insider Activity at McKesson

In other news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,753 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.03, for a total transaction of $2,349,490.59. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 82,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,546,684.17. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,259 shares of company stock valued at $6,635,492. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

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.