McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) Plans $0.71 Quarterly Dividend

McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.71 per share on Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.47%.

McKesson has raised its dividend payment by an average of 14.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 17 consecutive years. McKesson has a dividend payout ratio of 6.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect McKesson to earn $36.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 7.7%.

McKesson Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:MCK opened at $607.06 on Thursday. McKesson has a 12 month low of $464.42 and a 12 month high of $637.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $592.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $561.52. The stock has a market cap of $77.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.52.

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported $7.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.88 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $93.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.33 billion. McKesson had a negative return on equity of 207.50% and a net margin of 0.77%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.23 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that McKesson will post 32.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at McKesson

In other McKesson news, EVP Leann B. Smith sold 579 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $602.81, for a total transaction of $349,026.99. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $869,854.83. The trade was a 28.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of McKesson from $680.00 to $650.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of McKesson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Mizuho began coverage on McKesson in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $630.00 price objective for the company. Robert W. Baird upgraded McKesson from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $531.00 to $688.00 in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of McKesson from $560.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $646.14.

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.