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

McKesson Co. (NYSE:MCK) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 31st,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.71 per share on Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd.

McKesson has increased its dividend payment by an average of 11.8% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 17 years. McKesson has a dividend payout ratio of 7.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect McKesson to earn $36.61 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 7.8%.

McKesson Price Performance

MCK stock opened at $628.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $542.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $559.96. The stock has a market cap of $79.78 billion, a PE ratio of 32.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.44. McKesson has a one year low of $431.35 and a one year high of $637.51.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McKesson news, CEO Brian S. Tyler sold 3,753 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $561.10, for a total value of $2,105,808.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 78,586 shares in the company, valued at $44,094,604.60. This trade represents a 4.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on MCK shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of McKesson from $596.00 to $616.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Leerink Partners decreased their target price on shares of McKesson from $665.00 to $630.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of McKesson from $630.00 to $713.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on McKesson from $576.00 to $535.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded McKesson from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $631.57.

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.