McKesson Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.71 (NYSE:MCK)

McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of 0.71 per share on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.47%.

McKesson has raised its dividend payment by an average of 14.3% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. McKesson has a dividend payout ratio of 6.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect McKesson to earn $36.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 7.7%.

McKesson Price Performance

Shares of MCK opened at $605.16 on Friday. McKesson has a 1 year low of $464.42 and a 1 year high of $637.51. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $591.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $561.82. The firm has a market cap of $76.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.52.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $7.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.88 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $93.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.33 billion. McKesson had a net margin of 0.77% and a negative return on equity of 207.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $6.23 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that McKesson will post 32.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at McKesson

In related news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 579 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $572.79, for a total transaction of $331,645.41. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 864 shares in the company, valued at $494,890.56. The trade was a 40.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on MCK. Robert W. Baird upgraded McKesson from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $531.00 to $688.00 in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Baird R W upgraded McKesson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of McKesson from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of McKesson from $560.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of McKesson from $612.00 to $642.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $646.14.

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.