McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) Shares Sold by Avity Investment Management Inc.

Avity Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,025 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 118 shares during the period. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $587,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 31,151.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,319,142 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $706,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311,721 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in shares of McDonald’s by 542.9% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 801,858 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $244,174,000 after buying an additional 677,139 shares in the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $110,321,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s in the third quarter valued at approximately $121,254,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 8.0% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,761,625 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,216,677,000 after acquiring an additional 354,196 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McDonald’s news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.95, for a total transaction of $436,134.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $453,882. The trade was a 49.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.38, for a total transaction of $321,325.62. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,036,366.30. This trade represents a 9.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,704 shares of company stock valued at $2,829,428 over the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup raised McDonald’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $311.00 to $334.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on McDonald’s from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $321.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of McDonald’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $290.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.39.

McDonald’s Trading Down 0.8 %

McDonald’s stock opened at $281.40 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $201.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.73. McDonald’s Co. has a 1-year low of $243.53 and a 1-year high of $317.90. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $293.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $286.83.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.82 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 175.42% and a net margin of 31.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.19 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.75 earnings per share for the current year.

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.