Dividend Assets Capital LLC Cuts Stock Position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Dividend Assets Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,935 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 251 shares during the quarter. Dividend Assets Capital LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $3,170,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mattern Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 30,110 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $8,729,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in McDonald’s in the 3rd quarter worth $1,394,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in McDonald’s in the fourth quarter worth $1,628,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in McDonald’s by 0.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,564,359 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,694,403,000 after buying an additional 49,106 shares during the period. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,471,000. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In related news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,099 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.60, for a total value of $334,755.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at $475,176. The trade was a 41.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total value of $3,255,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 32,756 shares in the company, valued at $10,155,997.80. This trade represents a 24.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,205 shares of company stock worth $6,703,569. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

McDonald’s Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of MCD stock opened at $304.76 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $292.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $293.76. The stock has a market cap of $218.40 billion, a PE ratio of 26.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.74. McDonald’s Co. has a 12 month low of $243.53 and a 12 month high of $317.90.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.73% and a negative return on equity of 181.63%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MCD. Barclays boosted their target price on McDonald’s from $347.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on McDonald’s from $297.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $336.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.61.

About McDonald’s

McDonald’s Corp. engages in the operation and franchising of restaurants. It operates through the following segments: U.S., International Operated Markets, and International Developmental Licensed Markets and Corporate. The U.S. segment focuses its operations on the United States. The International Operated Markets segment consists of operations and the franchising of restaurants in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the U.K.