437 Shares in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) Acquired by Whipplewood Advisors LLC

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Old North State Trust LLC increased its position in shares of McKesson by 1.6% in the third quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 1,138 shares of the company’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its position in shares of McKesson by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management increased its position in shares of McKesson by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC increased its position in shares of McKesson by 1.3% in the third quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 1,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $754,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of McKesson by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,665,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 85.07% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MCK. StockNews.com cut McKesson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho assumed coverage on McKesson in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $630.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price objective on McKesson from $713.00 to $677.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on McKesson from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on McKesson from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 579 shares of McKesson stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $572.79, for a total value of $331,645.41. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $494,890.56. The trade was a 40.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 8,961 shares of McKesson stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $597.99, for a total value of $5,358,588.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 60,664 shares in the company, valued at $36,276,465.36. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,268 shares of company stock valued at $11,536,378 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

McKesson Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MCK opened at $621.03 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $592.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $563.46. McKesson Co. has a 12-month low of $464.42 and a 12-month high of $637.51. The firm has a market cap of $77.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.44, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.52.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $8.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.60 by ($0.57). McKesson had a negative return on equity of 181.26% and a net margin of 0.82%. As a group, research analysts forecast that McKesson Co. will post 32.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McKesson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.00%.

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.