McKesson (NYSE:MCK) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on MCK. Barclays assumed coverage on McKesson in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $537.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of McKesson from $522.00 to $548.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of McKesson from $575.00 to $620.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. SVB Leerink assumed coverage on shares of McKesson in a research report on Monday, February 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $600.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Leerink Partnrs reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of McKesson in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $533.50.

McKesson Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MCK opened at $543.37 on Thursday. McKesson has a 12-month low of $352.34 and a 12-month high of $544.81. The company has a market cap of $71.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $528.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $489.48.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The company reported $7.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.05 by $0.69. McKesson had a negative return on equity of 262.63% and a net margin of 0.99%. The firm had revenue of $80.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.90 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that McKesson will post 27.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McKesson news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 186 shares of McKesson stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.00, for a total value of $92,256.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,511 shares in the company, valued at $749,456. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other McKesson news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 186 shares of McKesson stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $496.00, for a total value of $92,256.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,511 shares in the company, valued at $749,456. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,473 shares of McKesson stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.55, for a total value of $1,821,762.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 43,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,789,074.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On McKesson

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCK. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of McKesson during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of McKesson during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sachetta LLC bought a new stake in shares of McKesson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Register Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of McKesson during the first quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of McKesson during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors 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.