Apexium Financial LP Reduces Holdings in McDonald’s Corporation $MCD

Apexium Financial LP trimmed its stake in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,933 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 40 shares during the period. Apexium Financial LP’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCD. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the 1st quarter worth about $1,324,961,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,341,460 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,917,993,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344,954 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 19.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,982,825 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,556,485,000 after purchasing an additional 815,768 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 732.6% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 650,544 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $203,211,000 after purchasing an additional 572,408 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in McDonald’s by 204.8% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 607,145 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $177,390,000 after acquiring an additional 407,982 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In other news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 1,000 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $315,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 6,858 shares in the company, valued at $2,160,270. The trade was a 12.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,487 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president owned 8,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,713,740. This represents a 22.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,402 shares of company stock valued at $2,273,407. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $356.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of McDonald’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Melius assumed coverage on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “sell” rating and a $250.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $325.86.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $300.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.59 billion, a PE ratio of 25.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.50. McDonald’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $276.53 and a 52-week high of $326.32. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $306.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $306.17.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The fast-food giant reported $3.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 32.21% and a negative return on equity of 225.52%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is currently 60.67%.

McDonald’s Company Profile

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.