McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) Shares Sold by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems decreased its position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,974 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 4,334 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in McDonald’s were worth $15,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCD. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in McDonald’s by 10.4% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,006 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $848,000 after buying an additional 282 shares during the period. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 9.8% in the first quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 797 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 3.9% in the first quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 4,470 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,260,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. increased its position in McDonald’s by 9.3% during the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,653 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trustmark National Bank Trust Department raised its stake in McDonald’s by 6.7% during the first quarter. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department now owns 15,881 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,478,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCD has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $284.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. KeyCorp upped their price target on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird downgraded McDonald’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $290.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on McDonald’s from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $319.46.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $292.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $209.63 billion, a PE ratio of 25.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.74. McDonald’s Co. has a 1 year low of $243.53 and a 1 year high of $317.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $300.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.42.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.82 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 175.42% and a net margin of 31.79%. McDonald’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. 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 payout ratio is currently 58.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,098 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $3,632,712.10. This represents a 8.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 2,346 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $727,260.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 2,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,550. This represents a 44.68 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,596 shares of company stock valued at $10,698,289 over the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

McDonald’s 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.