Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for McKesson (NYSE:MCK) Stock Price

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $745.00 to $770.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MCK. Wells Fargo & Company set a $766.00 price target on shares of McKesson and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Cfra Research lowered shares of McKesson from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of McKesson from $708.00 to $805.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of McKesson from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of McKesson from $630.00 to $690.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, McKesson currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $694.38.

McKesson Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MCK opened at $716.75 on Wednesday. McKesson has a 52-week low of $464.42 and a 52-week high of $731.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $700.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $642.88. The stock has a market cap of $89.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.49.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $10.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.83 by $0.29. McKesson had a net margin of 0.82% and a negative return on equity of 181.26%. The firm had revenue of $90.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $6.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that McKesson will post 32.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McKesson Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.40%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 19,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $705.93, for a total transaction of $13,673,864.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,243 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,173,970.99. This represents a 27.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Napoleon B. Rutledge, Jr. sold 543 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $726.51, for a total transaction of $394,494.93. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,432,677.72. This represents a 21.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,117 shares of company stock valued at $23,526,451 over the last ninety days. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MCK. Capital A Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of McKesson in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in shares of McKesson in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust lifted its stake in shares of McKesson by 64.3% in the first quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust now owns 46 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of McKesson by 1,366.7% in the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 44 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of McKesson in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 85.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.