First Merchants Corp Purchases 1,728 Shares of McDonald’s Corporation $MCD

First Merchants Corp boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 24,097 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after buying an additional 1,728 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $7,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,286 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,692,000 after purchasing an additional 1,649 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,942 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 10.9% during the first quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,616 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $817,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. SSA Swiss Advisors AG acquired a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the first quarter worth approximately $175,000. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 2.8% during the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 9,441 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,949,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCD opened at $294.44 on Thursday. McDonald’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $276.53 and a 52 week high of $326.32. The company has a market capitalization of $210.11 billion, a PE ratio of 25.23, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $306.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $305.94.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The fast-food giant reported $3.19 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.97 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.67%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Jonathan Banner sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total transaction of $310,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 99 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,690. This represents a 90.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $315,000.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 6,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,160,270. This represents a 12.73% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,402 shares of company stock worth $1,973,407 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MCD. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Melius began coverage on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “sell” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, July 10th. Eleven investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, McDonald’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $324.73.

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.