McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) Insider Joseph M. Erlinger Sells 939 Shares

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.52, for a total transaction of $270,920.28. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,222 shares in the company, valued at $2,949,251.44. This trade represents a 8.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

McDonald’s Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE MCD traded up $1.96 during trading on Monday, reaching $289.42. 5,166,745 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,515,875. McDonald’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $243.53 and a 52-week high of $326.32. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $310.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $302.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.94 billion, a PE ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.56.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.67. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 195.27% and a net margin of 31.75%. The company had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.70 earnings per share. McDonald’s’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is presently 62.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McDonald’s

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in McDonald’s by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,409,095 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $21,993,689,000 after acquiring an additional 239,753 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in McDonald’s by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,074,438 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,652,768,000 after buying an additional 157,458 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in McDonald’s by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,652,445 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $3,088,037,000 after buying an additional 531,070 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in McDonald’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,725,190,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in McDonald’s by 16.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,341,460 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,917,993,000 after acquiring an additional 1,344,954 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MCD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up previously from $340.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Monday, May 5th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Argus downgraded shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Northcoast Research downgraded McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $321.79.

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.