McDonald’s Corporation $MCD Stake Increased by Great Lakes Retirement Inc.

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. grew its holdings in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 5.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,126 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $1,498,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MCD shares. Barclays upped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $360.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of McDonald’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $340.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Mizuho raised shares of McDonald’s to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $323.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In other news, EVP Jonathan Banner sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $310,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 99 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,690. This trade represents a 90.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $770,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,713,740. This represents a 22.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 4,487 shares of company stock worth $1,395,970 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Price Performance

NYSE MCD opened at $298.44 on Friday. McDonald’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $276.53 and a fifty-two week high of $326.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $305.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $305.51. The firm has a market cap of $212.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.50.

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

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $1.86 per share. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.77. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is 63.75%.

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, Spain, and the U.K.