American Trust Acquires 754 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

American Trust grew its holdings in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,653 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the period. American Trust’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $1,950,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,049,310 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $20,473,811,000 after acquiring an additional 599,745 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in McDonald’s by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,347,048 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,178,474,000 after purchasing an additional 987,099 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in McDonald’s by 3.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,149,080 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,567,030,000 after buying an additional 188,888 shares in the last quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 141,160.9% during the fourth quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 5,613,710 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,664,521,000 after buying an additional 5,609,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 66.9% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,471,007 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,542,550,000 after buying an additional 2,193,769 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MCD. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $342.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on McDonald’s from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $284.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $295.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, McDonald’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $308.22.

McDonald’s Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MCD opened at $302.98 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $283.58 and its 200-day moving average is $271.26. McDonald’s Co. has a twelve month low of $243.53 and a twelve month high of $306.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $218.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.72, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.72.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $6.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 32.25% and a negative return on equity of 178.68%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.17 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $1.77 per share. This is a positive change from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is currently 56.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 9,291 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction 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 $13,193,080. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 11,727 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.03, for a total value of $3,518,451.81. Following the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 9,291 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $2,833,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,193,080. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,751 shares of company stock worth $9,493,973 over the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About McDonald’s

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.