Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Has $16.29 Million Position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. decreased its stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,140 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 323 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $16,287,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of McDonald’s by 21.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,286 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,649 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in McDonald’s during the fourth quarter worth approximately $64,805,000. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 2.8% in 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. Sovran Advisors LLC acquired a new position in McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $520,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in McDonald’s by 33.5% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 188,016 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $54,997,000 after buying an additional 47,209 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on MCD shares. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up from $340.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of McDonald’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Loop Capital downgraded McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $346.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Friday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $321.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.07, for a total transaction of $295,850.73. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,161 shares in the company, valued at $3,516,496.27. This trade represents a 7.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

McDonald’s Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:MCD opened at $302.93 on Friday. McDonald’s Co. has a 12-month low of $243.53 and a 12-month high of $326.32. The company has a market cap of $216.60 billion, a PE ratio of 26.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $311.91 and a 200 day moving average of $302.88.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67. The company had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.17 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.73% and a negative return on equity of 181.63%. McDonald’s’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.70 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.49%.

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.