Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 73 Shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,778 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in McKesson were worth $2,362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCK. Swedbank AB bought a new position in McKesson during the first quarter worth $669,326,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of McKesson by 1,020.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 806,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $398,937,000 after purchasing an additional 734,849 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of McKesson by 3,621.7% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 349,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,572,000 after buying an additional 340,007 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in McKesson by 581.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 151,240 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,776,000 after buying an additional 129,031 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of McKesson by 134.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 220,619 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,850,000 after acquiring an additional 126,567 shares during the period. 85.07% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of McKesson from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $531.00 to $688.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Leerink Partners reduced their target price on McKesson from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of McKesson from $560.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of McKesson from $630.00 to $713.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on McKesson from $540.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, McKesson currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $631.57.

McKesson Trading Down 0.6 %

McKesson stock opened at $606.29 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $76.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $520.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $554.29. McKesson Co. has a 12-month low of $431.35 and a 12-month high of $637.51.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $7.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.88 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $93.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.33 billion. McKesson had a net margin of 0.77% and a negative return on equity of 207.50%. McKesson’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $6.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that McKesson Co. will post 32.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McKesson Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.47%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McKesson news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,753 shares of McKesson 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,094,604.60. The trade was a 4.56 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.