Stephens Consulting LLC Sells 59 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Stephens Consulting LLC lessened its stake in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 11.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 457 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $143,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,169,342 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $20,341,391,000 after buying an additional 526,466 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,074,438 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $4,652,768,000 after buying an additional 157,458 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,652,445 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $3,088,037,000 after buying an additional 531,070 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in McDonald’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,725,190,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,867,193 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,570,511,000 after buying an additional 895,896 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCD has been the topic of several research reports. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $347.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up from $340.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Monday, May 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $321.79.

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.50, for a total transaction of $299,071.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,100 shares in the company, valued at $3,853,850. The trade was a 7.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

McDonald’s Price Performance

Shares of MCD opened at $296.18 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.78 billion, a PE ratio of 26.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.56. McDonald’s Co. has a 1-year low of $243.53 and a 1-year high of $326.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $311.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $303.03.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.17 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.73% and a negative return on equity of 181.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.49%.

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.