Is McKesson Corporation (MCK) A Good Stock To Buy?

Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Viking Global, managed by Andreas Halvorsen, holds the biggest position in McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK). Viking Global has a $544.7 million position in the stock, comprising 2.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Viking Global’s heels is Glenview Capital, led by Larry Robbins, holding a $432.5 million position; the fund has 2.4% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Other professional money managers that are bullish consist of Cliff Asness’ AQR Capital Management, John Smith Clark’s Southpoint Capital Advisors and Donald Chiboucis’s Columbus Circle Investors.

Seeing as McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) has experienced a decline in interest from the smart money, logic holds that there were a few fund managers that decided to sell off their full holdings by the end of the fourth quarter. Intriguingly, Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies dropped the biggest position of all the hedgies followed by Insider Monkey, worth an estimated $99.1 million in stock. Arthur B Cohen and Joseph Healey’s fund, Healthcor Management LP, also cut its stock, about $50.9 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest was cut by five funds by the end of 2015.

Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) but similarly valued. We will take a look at The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:BK), Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), Statoil ASA (ADR) (NYSE:STO), and Canadian National Railway (USA) (NYSE:CNI). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to MCK’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 27 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.15 billion. That figure was $3.07 billion in MCK’s case. The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:BK) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Statoil ASA (ADR) (NYSE:STO) is the least popular one with only 8 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.