Capital Square LLC Buys 50 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Capital Square LLC grew its stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,430 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Capital Square LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. increased its stake in McDonald’s by 2.4% in the third quarter. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. now owns 1,422 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of McDonald’s by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 1,686 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $513,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in McDonald’s by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,472 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,057,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 2.8% during the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GDS Wealth Management grew its stake in McDonald’s by 1.4% in the third quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 2,504 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $762,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In other McDonald’s news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 2,346 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $727,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 2,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,550. The trade was a 44.68 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 11,727 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.03, for a total value of $3,518,451.81. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,966,996.55. This trade represents a 19.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,498 shares of company stock valued at $10,381,296 in the last ninety days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

McDonald’s Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of MCD traded up $5.22 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $295.50. The company had a trading volume of 1,338,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,488,132. The firm has a market cap of $211.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.49, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a fifty day moving average of $299.85 and a 200-day moving average of $278.20. McDonald’s Co. has a 12 month low of $243.53 and a 12 month high of $317.90.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.05. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.79% and a negative return on equity of 175.42%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.19 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This is an increase from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is 58.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MCD. KeyCorp raised their price target on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $296.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Tigress Financial increased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $284.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, Guggenheim cut McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $290.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $319.46.

McDonald’s Company Profile

McDonald's Corporation operates and franchises restaurants under the McDonald's brand in the United States and internationally. It offers food and beverages, including hamburgers and cheeseburgers, various chicken sandwiches, fries, shakes, desserts, sundaes, cookies, pies, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages; and full or limited breakfast, as well as sells various other products during limited-time promotions.