Vertex Planning Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Vertex Planning Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 8.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,654 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after buying an additional 218 shares during the quarter. Vertex Planning Partners LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $769,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in McDonald’s by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,169,342 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $20,341,391,000 after purchasing an additional 526,466 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,916,980 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $4,833,510,000 after buying an additional 220,365 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,082,894 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $4,592,892,000 after buying an additional 128,800 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in McDonald’s during the 4th quarter worth about $2,725,190,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,803,833 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,682,473,000 after acquiring an additional 52,195 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Tiffanie L. Boyd sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.27, for a total transaction of $309,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,720,778.28. This represents a 15.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 10,500 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $3,255,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 32,756 shares in the company, valued at $10,155,997.80. This represents a 24.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 32,405 shares of company stock worth $9,886,656. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on McDonald’s from $342.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Monday, February 10th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.61.

McDonald’s Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MCD opened at $312.87 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $301.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $297.99. McDonald’s Co. has a 52 week low of $243.53 and a 52 week high of $326.32. The stock has a market cap of $223.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.71.

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

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. 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.