3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Purchases New Stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,463 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock, valued at approximately $628,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCD. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in McDonald’s during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the second quarter worth about $38,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the fourth quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Keener Financial Planning LLC lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 32.3% in the first quarter. Keener Financial Planning LLC now owns 176 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCD opened at $304.37 on Tuesday. McDonald’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $306.96. The stock has a market cap of $219.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $282.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $271.09.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The fast-food giant reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.07 by ($0.10). McDonald’s had a net margin of 32.25% and a negative return on equity of 178.68%. The company had revenue of $6.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.17 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.69 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This is a boost from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $284.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $280.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $310.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $308.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 11,727 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.03, for a total transaction of $3,518,451.81. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 49,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,966,996.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 11,727 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.03, for a total transaction of $3,518,451.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,885 shares in the company, valued at $14,966,996.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 9,291 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $2,833,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 43,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,193,080. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,249 shares of company stock valued at $9,865,866 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Company 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.