Country Trust Bank Acquires 186 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Country Trust Bank lifted its stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 64.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 476 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the quarter. Country Trust Bank’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 141,160.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,609,736 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in McDonald’s by 66.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,471,007 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,542,550,000 after purchasing an additional 2,193,769 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in McDonald’s during the 1st quarter valued at about $348,206,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in McDonald’s by 39.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,565,398 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,005,264,000 after buying an additional 1,012,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,347,048 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,178,474,000 after buying an additional 987,099 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 9,291 shares of McDonald’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 transaction of $2,833,755.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 43,256 shares in the company, valued at $13,193,080. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other McDonald’s news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 9,291 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $2,833,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 43,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,193,080. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Ian Frederick Borden sold 5,939 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.04, for a total value of $1,781,937.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,403 shares in the company, valued at $6,121,716.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 31,751 shares of company stock valued at $9,493,973. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCD opened at $301.90 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $217.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.63, a P/E/G ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.73. McDonald’s Co. has a 1-year low of $243.53 and a 1-year high of $306.96. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $287.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $271.84.

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

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This is an increase from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MCD. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on McDonald’s from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on McDonald’s from $312.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on McDonald’s from $301.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $310.12.

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.