McKesson (NYSE:MCK) Raised to Strong-Buy at Baird R W

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) was upgraded by analysts at Baird R W from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. StockNews.com raised McKesson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Leerink Partners cut their target price on McKesson from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of McKesson from $670.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of McKesson from $560.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $625.64.

McKesson Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE MCK opened at $613.12 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $513.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $551.60. The company has a market cap of $79.51 billion, a PE ratio of 27.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.44. McKesson has a 12-month low of $431.35 and a 12-month high of $637.51.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $7.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.89 by $0.18. McKesson had a net margin of 0.94% and a negative return on equity of 242.57%. The firm had revenue of $93.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.33 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.23 earnings per share. McKesson’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that McKesson will post 31.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at McKesson

In related news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 78,586 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,094,604.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of McKesson

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of McKesson in the 1st quarter valued at about $669,326,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in McKesson by 1,020.2% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 806,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,937,000 after acquiring an additional 734,849 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its position in McKesson by 3,621.7% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 349,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $187,572,000 after purchasing an additional 340,007 shares during the period. Bristol Gate Capital Partners Inc. bought a new position in McKesson during the 1st quarter worth approximately $97,510,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of McKesson by 581.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 151,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,776,000 after purchasing an additional 129,031 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

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.