Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. Sells 55 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. cut its stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,685 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 55 shares during the period. McDonald’s comprises about 1.4% of Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Valley Brook Capital Group Inc.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $1,938,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in McDonald’s by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,513 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $765,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in McDonald’s during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,472,000. VitalStone Financial LLC grew its holdings in McDonald’s by 148.8% during the 3rd quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 311 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its holdings in McDonald’s by 65.8% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 27,040 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $8,234,000 after acquiring an additional 10,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its holdings in McDonald’s by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 329,417 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $100,311,000 after acquiring an additional 4,480 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $347.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $297.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $336.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of McDonald’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.95, for a total transaction of $436,134.05. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $453,882. This trade represents a 49.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total transaction of $84,225.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,887 shares in the company, valued at $2,214,275.25. The trade was a 3.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,406 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,857. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

McDonald’s Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $310.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.23, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $291.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $291.56. McDonald’s Co. has a 52 week low of $243.53 and a 52 week high of $317.90.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.79% and a negative return on equity of 175.42%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

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

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, Russia, Spain, and the U.K.