Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Sells 2,063 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC decreased its stake in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 49.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,150 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 2,063 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $623,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,916,980 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,833,510,000 after acquiring an additional 220,365 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in McDonald’s by 0.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,082,894 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,592,892,000 after purchasing an additional 128,800 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 49,106 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of McDonald’s by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,765,049 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $841,966,000 after purchasing an additional 19,867 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 31,151.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,319,142 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $706,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311,721 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total transaction of $84,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,214,275.25. The trade was a 3.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.51, for a total value of $441,470.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $459,435.60. The trade was a 49.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,905 shares of company stock worth $2,592,327 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of MCD opened at $293.16 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $291.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $288.70. The company has a market cap of $210.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.73. McDonald’s Co. has a twelve month low of $243.53 and a twelve month high of $317.90.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.05. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 175.42% and a net margin of 31.79%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.72 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on MCD. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $340.00 to $336.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $342.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp cut their price target on McDonald’s from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $320.87.

McDonald’s Profile

McDonald's Corporation operates and franchises restaurants under the McDonald's brand in the United States and internationally. It offers food and beverages, including hamburgers and cheeseburgers, various chicken sandwiches, fries, shakes, desserts, sundaes, cookies, pies, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages; and full or limited breakfast, as well as sells various other products during limited-time promotions.