Sovran Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,846 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock, valued at approximately $520,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in McDonald’s by 31,151.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,319,142 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $706,202,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311,721 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 542.9% in the third 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 during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s in the third quarter worth about $121,254,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 3,580.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 268,650 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $81,807,000 after buying an additional 261,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 26,948.9% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 227,752 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $66,023,000 after acquiring an additional 226,910 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MCD shares. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $297.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on McDonald’s from $342.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McDonald’s news, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 3,409 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.15, for a total value of $989,121.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,807,201.25. This represents a 26.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total value of $84,225.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,214,275.25. This trade represents a 3.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,406 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,857 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $307.47 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $291.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $291.97. McDonald’s Co. has a one year low of $243.53 and a one year high of $317.90. The stock has a market cap of $220.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.79% and a negative return on equity of 175.42%. Sell-side analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.16%.

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, Russia, Spain, and the U.K.