McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) Stock Holdings Lowered by Planning Directions Inc.

Planning Directions Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 24.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,124 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 682 shares during the period. Planning Directions Inc.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCD. Quent Capital LLC increased its stake in McDonald’s by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,006 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $848,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of McDonald’s by 9.3% in the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,653 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN raised its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 2.5% during the first quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 7,897 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,226,000 after acquiring an additional 192 shares during the period. PYA Waltman Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. PYA Waltman Capital LLC now owns 3,732 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capitolis Liquid Global Markets LLC acquired a new position in McDonald’s in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,045,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at McDonald’s

In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,098 shares of McDonald’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 12,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,632,712.10. This trade represents a 8.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 11,727 shares of the company’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 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 approximately $14,966,996.55. This trade represents a 19.03 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,596 shares of company stock worth $10,698,289. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on McDonald’s from $301.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Robert W. Baird downgraded McDonald’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on McDonald’s from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on McDonald’s from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $295.00 to $290.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.46.

McDonald’s Price Performance

McDonald’s stock opened at $292.63 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $209.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $300.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $277.48. McDonald’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $317.90.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the business earned $3.19 earnings per share. McDonald’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. This is a positive change 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 (DPR) is currently 58.65%.

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.