Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 166,285 Shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD reduced its position in shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) by 12.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,182,478 shares of the company’s stock after selling 166,285 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.93% of McKesson worth $673,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCK. Dark Forest Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of McKesson by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 1,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. Quantessence Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of McKesson in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,508,000. Alta Advisers Ltd grew its position in McKesson by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 422 shares of the company’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in McKesson by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 288,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $164,378,000 after acquiring an additional 2,336 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position in McKesson by 246.1% during the fourth quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 34,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,725,000 after purchasing an additional 24,609 shares during the period. 85.07% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 188 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $609.59, for a total transaction of $114,602.92. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $640,679.09. This represents a 15.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 8,961 shares of McKesson stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $597.99, for a total transaction of $5,358,588.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 60,664 shares in the company, valued at $36,276,465.36. This represents a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,110 shares of company stock worth $10,855,706 in the last three months. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on McKesson from $641.00 to $691.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of McKesson from $630.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of McKesson from $713.00 to $677.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com lowered McKesson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on McKesson from $642.00 to $745.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McKesson presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $668.50.

McKesson Price Performance

MCK stock opened at $688.26 on Friday. McKesson Co. has a 1-year low of $464.42 and a 1-year high of $728.32. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $659.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $605.06. The company has a market capitalization of $86.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.51, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.49.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $8.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $8.60 by ($0.57). McKesson had a negative return on equity of 181.26% and a net margin of 0.82%. On average, analysts anticipate that McKesson Co. will post 32.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McKesson Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. McKesson’s payout ratio is 13.00%.

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.