Kentucky Retirement Systems Reduces Holdings in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)

Kentucky Retirement Systems trimmed its stake in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,795 shares of the company’s stock after selling 185 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in McKesson were worth $5,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of McKesson by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 275,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,123,000 after buying an additional 6,377 shares during the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new position in shares of McKesson in the 2nd quarter valued at $246,000. Zega Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of McKesson in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,829,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of McKesson by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 15,222 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,747,000 after buying an additional 1,654 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tredje AP fonden grew its position in McKesson by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Tredje AP fonden now owns 104,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,306,000 after purchasing an additional 5,764 shares during the last quarter. 85.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at McKesson

In other news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,753 shares of McKesson stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $626.03, for a total transaction of $2,349,490.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 82,339 shares in the company, valued at $51,546,684.17. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 11,259 shares of company stock worth $6,635,492 over the last ninety days. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCK has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of McKesson from $540.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of McKesson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of McKesson from $694.00 to $671.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered 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 report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of McKesson from $596.00 to $616.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $620.93.

McKesson Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MCK opened at $507.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $66.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.44. McKesson Co. has a 12-month low of $431.35 and a 12-month high of $637.51. The company has a 50-day moving average of $561.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $557.00.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $7.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.21 by $0.67. The business had revenue of $79.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $82.53 billion. McKesson had a net margin of 0.94% and a negative return on equity of 242.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that McKesson Co. will post 32.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McKesson Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 30th. This is an increase from McKesson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. McKesson’s payout ratio is 12.69%.

McKesson 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.