Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Reduces Position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its position in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 38,842 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 2,716 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $11,260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCD. Mattern Capital Management LLC boosted its position in McDonald’s by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 30,110 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $8,729,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Bell Bank boosted its position in McDonald’s by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 12,699 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in McDonald’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,628,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in McDonald’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,564,359 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,694,403,000 after buying an additional 49,106 shares during the period. Finally, Integral Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in McDonald’s by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,512 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,888,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on MCD. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target 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. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $340.00 to $335.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Monday, February 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.39.

Insider Transactions at McDonald’s

In other news, EVP Manuel Jm Steijaert sold 10,459 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.71, for a total value of $3,228,797.89. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,606 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,918.26. This represents a 69.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total transaction of $3,255,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 32,756 shares in the company, valued at $10,155,997.80. The trade was a 24.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,504 shares of company stock worth $10,206,575 over the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

McDonald’s Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE MCD opened at $303.60 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $297.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $297.13. The stock has a market cap of $216.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.71. McDonald’s Co. has a 12-month low of $243.53 and a 12-month high of $326.32.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.73% and a negative return on equity of 181.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. McDonald’s’s payout ratio 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, Spain, and the U.K.