Ascent Group LLC Sells 2,790 Shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)

Ascent Group LLC reduced its holdings in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) by 48.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,915 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,790 shares during the quarter. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in McKesson were worth $1,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in McKesson by 53.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,003 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in McKesson by 8.3% in the second quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,658 shares of the company’s stock worth $968,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in McKesson by 33.5% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,357,000 after buying an additional 1,870 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in McKesson by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,187 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,277,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of McKesson by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,354 shares of the company’s stock worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. 85.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,753 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.10, for a total value of $2,105,808.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 78,586 shares in the company, valued at $44,094,604.60. This represents a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird upgraded McKesson from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $531.00 to $688.00 in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of McKesson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Leerink Partners decreased their price target on shares of McKesson from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of McKesson from $576.00 to $535.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of McKesson from $630.00 to $713.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Two 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.57.

McKesson Trading Down 0.5 %

McKesson stock opened at $617.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $78.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.00, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.49. McKesson Co. has a 12 month low of $431.35 and a 12 month high of $637.51. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $547.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $560.86.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $7.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.88 by $0.19. McKesson had a negative return on equity of 207.50% and a net margin of 0.77%. The business had revenue of $93.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.33 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $6.23 EPS. McKesson’s revenue was up 21.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that McKesson Co. will post 32.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McKesson Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. McKesson’s payout ratio is 14.71%.

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.