McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) Shares Sold by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P reduced its holdings in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 922 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 131 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $267,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MCD. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,169,342 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $20,341,391,000 after acquiring an additional 526,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,916,980 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,833,510,000 after purchasing an additional 220,365 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,082,894 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,592,892,000 after purchasing an additional 128,800 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in McDonald’s by 0.9% in 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 buying an additional 52,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,694,202 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,650,692,000 after buying an additional 129,843 shares during the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp raised their target price on McDonald’s from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $347.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, March 17th. Nine 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.61.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 3,409 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.15, for a total transaction of $989,121.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,807,201.25. The trade was a 26.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total value of $84,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,887 shares in the company, valued at $2,214,275.25. This represents a 3.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,405 shares of company stock valued at $9,886,656. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

McDonald’s stock opened at $306.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $219.31 billion, a PE ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.71. McDonald’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $326.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $301.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $298.15.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 181.63% and a net margin of 31.73%. As a group, equities research 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.16%.

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.