Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. Invests $212,000 in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)

Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. bought a new stake in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCK. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in McKesson by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 7,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,532,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in McKesson by 6.2% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 264,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,382,000 after purchasing an additional 15,423 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of McKesson by 1,279.3% during the second quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 14,359 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,386,000 after purchasing an additional 13,318 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of McKesson by 38.7% in the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,644,000 after purchasing an additional 2,217 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of McKesson by 6.1% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 180,886 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,642,000 after purchasing an additional 10,456 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at McKesson

In related news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 579 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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 $494,890.56. This trade represents a 40.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of McKesson from $535.00 to $641.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. StockNews.com upgraded McKesson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on McKesson from $560.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on McKesson from $713.00 to $677.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of McKesson from $623.00 to $579.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McKesson has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $646.14.

McKesson Stock Performance

Shares of MCK stock opened at $592.69 on Friday. McKesson Co. has a 1 year low of $464.42 and a 1 year high of $637.51. The firm has a market cap of $75.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.69, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $595.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $561.34.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last released 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 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 firm’s revenue was up 21.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $6.23 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that McKesson Co. will post 32.73 EPS for the current year.

McKesson Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. McKesson’s payout ratio is currently 14.71%.

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.