Insider Selling: McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) CMO Sells 2,346 Shares of Stock

McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 2,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $727,260.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 2,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,550. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

McDonald’s Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCD traded up $3.50 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $313.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,008,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,369,673. McDonald’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $315.33. The company has a market capitalization of $225.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $291.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $272.69.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The fast-food giant reported $2.97 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.07 by ($0.10). McDonald’s had a net margin of 32.25% and a negative return on equity of 178.68%. The business had revenue of $6.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. This is a boost from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McDonald’s

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCD. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $168,000. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in McDonald’s during the first quarter worth about $23,560,000. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 0.9% during the first quarter. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. now owns 32,344 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $9,119,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Park National Corp OH boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 10.4% during the first quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 111,830 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $31,530,000 after buying an additional 10,547 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 2.6% during the first quarter. Modus Advisors LLC now owns 9,910 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,794,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their target price on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on McDonald’s from $284.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on McDonald’s from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on McDonald’s from $296.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Argus raised McDonald’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $314.92.

McDonald’s Company 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.