Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC Buys 2,650 Shares of McDonald’s Corporation $MCD

Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 30.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,439 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,650 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $3,342,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nova Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in McDonald’s in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in McDonald’s in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $324.00 to $326.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 price objective (up from $325.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Redburn Atlantic reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (down from $319.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $325.14.

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In other McDonald’s news, EVP Jonathan Banner sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $310,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 99 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,690. This trade represents a 90.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total transaction of $770,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,713,740. This represents a 22.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,341 shares of company stock worth $2,544,327. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of MCD opened at $305.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $218.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.50. McDonald’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $276.53 and a twelve month high of $326.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $305.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $306.59.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The fast-food giant reported $3.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 32.21% and a negative return on equity of 225.52%. McDonald’s’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.97 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.67%.

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.