Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC Acquires 200 Shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)

Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) by 15.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,505 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC’s holdings in McKesson were worth $858,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of McKesson by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,968,239 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,467,557,000 after acquiring an additional 438,423 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in McKesson by 55.8% in the third quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,189,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $588,048,000 after purchasing an additional 425,875 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in McKesson by 126.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 574,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,903,000 after purchasing an additional 321,119 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in McKesson in the fourth quarter worth $178,397,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of McKesson during the 4th quarter valued at $128,125,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MCK. Mizuho assumed coverage on McKesson in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $630.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of McKesson from $713.00 to $677.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of McKesson from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of McKesson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on McKesson from $641.00 to $691.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.36.

McKesson Price Performance

Shares of MCK opened at $659.45 on Friday. McKesson Co. has a 1-year low of $464.42 and a 1-year high of $670.79. The company has a market capitalization of $82.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $616.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $574.33.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that McKesson Co. will post 32.77 earnings per share for the current year.

McKesson Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.00%.

Insider Activity at McKesson

In related news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 579 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $494,890.56. This trade represents a 40.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 8,961 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $600.66, for a total transaction of $5,382,514.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 69,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,820,952.50. This represents a 11.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 18,689 shares of company stock valued at $11,187,351. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

McKesson Company Profile

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.