Cascade Financial Partners LLC Acquires 198 Shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)

Cascade Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 7.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,874 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Cascade Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First American Trust FSB grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 55.9% during the first quarter. First American Trust FSB now owns 36,917 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $11,532,000 after buying an additional 13,234 shares during the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 1.9% during the first quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,724 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,788,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 5.6% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 345,319 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $107,867,000 after buying an additional 18,393 shares during the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 22.9% during the first quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,226 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $5,381,000 after buying an additional 3,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Segment Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 1.7% during the first quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 54,672 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $17,078,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their target price on McDonald’s from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Friday, August 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised McDonald’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Evercore ISI 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 note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of McDonald’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $326.87.

McDonald’s Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE MCD opened at $308.76 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $298.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $305.07. McDonald’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $274.70 and a 12-month high of $326.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $220.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.52.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly 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. McDonald’s had a net margin of 32.21% and a negative return on equity of 225.52%. The business had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is currently 60.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 8,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,657,400. The trade was a 10.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.49, for a total transaction of $281,221.11. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 9,283 shares in the company, valued at $2,780,165.67. This trade represents a 9.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 7,280 shares of company stock valued at $2,215,178. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

McDonald’s 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.