Private Trust Co. NA Increases Stake in McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK)

Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,142 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 87 shares during the quarter. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in McKesson were worth $1,221,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in McKesson by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,943,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,444,175,000 after buying an additional 138,685 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in McKesson by 17.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,968,239 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,467,557,000 after buying an additional 438,423 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in McKesson by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,653,288 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,306,873,000 after buying an additional 26,299 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in McKesson by 55.8% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,189,377 shares of the company’s stock worth $588,048,000 after buying an additional 425,875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in McKesson by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 975,935 shares of the company’s stock worth $558,606,000 after buying an additional 162,688 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of McKesson from $535.00 to $641.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of McKesson from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $531.00 to $688.00 in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of McKesson from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Baird R W raised shares of McKesson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of McKesson from $713.00 to $677.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McKesson news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 579 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $572.79, for a total transaction of $331,645.41. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $494,890.56. This trade represents a 40.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 8,961 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 60,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $36,276,465.36. The trade was a 12.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,268 shares of company stock valued at $11,536,378 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

McKesson Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE MCK opened at $640.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $80.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.34, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.52. McKesson Co. has a 52 week low of $464.42 and a 52 week high of $641.70. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $594.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $564.09.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $8.03 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that McKesson Co. will post 32.77 earnings per share for the current year.

McKesson Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. McKesson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.