Tufton Capital Management Trims Stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Tufton Capital Management lessened its holdings in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 14.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,225 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 202 shares during the quarter. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,916,980 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,833,510,000 after purchasing an additional 220,365 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,082,894 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,592,892,000 after purchasing an additional 128,800 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,803,833 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,682,473,000 after purchasing an additional 52,195 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,564,359 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,694,403,000 after buying an additional 49,106 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of McDonald’s by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,765,049 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $841,966,000 after buying an additional 19,867 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCD has been the topic of several research reports. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays increased their target price on McDonald’s from $347.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. KeyCorp increased their target price on McDonald’s from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wedbush increased their price target on McDonald’s from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on McDonald’s from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.61.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCD opened at $309.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $222.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.74. McDonald’s Co. has a one year low of $243.53 and a one year high of $317.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $293.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.82.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 181.63% and a net margin of 31.73%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McDonald’s news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total value of $84,225.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,214,275.25. This trade represents a 3.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Manuel Jm Steijaert sold 10,459 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.71, for a total transaction of $3,228,797.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,606 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,918.26. This represents a 69.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 32,504 shares of company stock valued at $9,897,305 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

About McDonald’s

McDonald’s Corp. engages in the operation and franchising of restaurants. It operates through the following segments: U.S., International Operated Markets, and International Developmental Licensed Markets and Corporate. The U.S. segment focuses its operations on the United States. The International Operated Markets segment consists of operations and the franchising of restaurants in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the U.K.