Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Grows Stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,244 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,278 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $25,044,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MCD. Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 40.8% in the first quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,894 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $816,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its stake in McDonald’s by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 22,107 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $6,233,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in McDonald’s by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc. now owns 7,705 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. New England Professional Planning Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the first quarter worth $225,000. Finally, DLK Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 4.3% in the first quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 14,152 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $3,990,000 after acquiring an additional 580 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 11,727 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,966,996.55. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 11,727 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.03, for a total value of $3,518,451.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,966,996.55. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,098 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.70, for a total transaction of $316,992.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,632,712.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,998 shares of company stock valued at $9,935,493. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim increased their price objective on McDonald’s from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, McDonald’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.52.

McDonald’s Price Performance

McDonald’s stock traded down $1.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $313.83. The company had a trading volume of 565,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,338,437. McDonald’s Co. has a 12-month low of $243.53 and a 12-month high of $317.90. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $295.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.01. The firm has a market cap of $226.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.64, a P/E/G ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.73.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The fast-food giant reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.07 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $6.49 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.26%. This is an increase from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is 60.10%.

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.