McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) Shares Purchased by Washington Trust Bank

Washington Trust Bank raised its stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,267 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $1,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 10.4% in the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,006 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $848,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC increased its stake in McDonald’s by 63.8% in the first quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 4,787 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865 shares during the period. MGB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in McDonald’s by 9.2% in the first quarter. MGB Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,705 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the period. CFO4Life Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 55.4% in the first quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 2,907 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $820,000 after buying an additional 1,036 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the first quarter worth about $4,977,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the company. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on McDonald’s from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Robert W. Baird downgraded McDonald’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $290.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Argus raised shares of McDonald’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McDonald’s news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.51, for a total transaction of $441,470.49. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $459,435.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other McDonald’s news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,498 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.36, for a total value of $428,967.28. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at $446,721.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.51, for a total transaction of $441,470.49. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $459,435.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 35,596 shares of company stock valued at $10,698,289. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE MCD traded up $0.34 during trading on Thursday, reaching $294.34. The company had a trading volume of 71,806 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,513,486. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.14 billion, a PE ratio of 25.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.89 and a beta of 0.74. McDonald’s Co. has a twelve month low of $243.53 and a twelve month high of $317.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $298.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $276.35.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.82 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.79% and a negative return on equity of 178.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. This is a positive change from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.16%.

About McDonald’s

McDonald's Corporation operates and franchises restaurants under the McDonald's brand in the United States and internationally. It offers food and beverages, including hamburgers and cheeseburgers, various chicken sandwiches, fries, shakes, desserts, sundaes, cookies, pies, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages; and full or limited breakfast, as well as sells various other products during limited-time promotions.