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

McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.71 per share on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd.

McKesson has increased 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 payout ratio of 6.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Stock Down 1.6 %

McKesson stock opened at $594.85 on Friday. McKesson has a 12 month low of $464.42 and a 12 month high of $637.51. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $591.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $562.12. The stock has a market cap of $75.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.52.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $7.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.88 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $93.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $89.33 billion. McKesson had a negative return on equity of 207.50% and a net margin of 0.77%. The business’s revenue was up 21.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $6.23 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that McKesson will post 32.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at McKesson

In related news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 579 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $602.81, for a total transaction of $349,026.99. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,443 shares in the company, valued at approximately $869,854.83. The trade was a 28.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCK has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of McKesson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on McKesson from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of McKesson from $713.00 to $677.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Baird R W raised shares of McKesson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on McKesson from $535.00 to $641.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.