McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) Shares Purchased by Biondo Investment Advisors LLC

Biondo Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 40,689 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the quarter. McDonald’s comprises about 1.6% of Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $11,795,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MCD. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new position in McDonald’s during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new position in shares of McDonald’s in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 110.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 105 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $340.00 to $335.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wedbush boosted their price target on McDonald’s from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on McDonald’s from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.61.

McDonald’s Price Performance

Shares of MCD stock opened at $306.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $219.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $301.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $298.10. McDonald’s Co. has a 1-year low of $243.53 and a 1-year high of $326.32.

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

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McDonald’s news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 10,500 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total value of $3,255,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 32,756 shares in the company, valued at $10,155,997.80. The trade was a 24.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total value of $84,225.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 32,405 shares of company stock valued at $9,886,656 over the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About McDonald’s

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.