William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. Purchases New Position in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)

William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,005,000. McKesson makes up approximately 2.6% of William B. Walkup & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RFP Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of McKesson by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of McKesson by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 804 shares of the company’s stock valued at $470,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of McKesson by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,094 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank raised its holdings in shares of McKesson by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. First Western Trust Bank now owns 913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $490,000 after buying an additional 18 shares during the period. Finally, KCM Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of McKesson by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,355 shares of the company’s stock valued at $727,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. 85.07% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MCK shares. Leerink Partners lowered their price objective on McKesson from $670.00 to $665.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on McKesson from $670.00 to $630.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on McKesson from $576.00 to $535.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Mizuho raised their price objective on McKesson from $540.00 to $570.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on McKesson from $623.00 to $579.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $613.36.

McKesson Stock Performance

NYSE MCK opened at $488.25 on Monday. McKesson Co. has a twelve month low of $431.35 and a twelve month high of $637.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.44 billion, a PE ratio of 21.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $550.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $555.82.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $7.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.21 by $0.67. The firm had revenue of $79.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $82.53 billion. McKesson had a negative return on equity of 242.57% and a net margin of 0.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $7.27 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that McKesson Co. will post 32.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McKesson Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This is a positive change from McKesson’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 12.69%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,753 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $626.03, for a total value of $2,349,490.59. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 82,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,546,684.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,259 shares of company stock worth $6,635,492. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

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.