Tradewinds LLC. Reduces Holdings in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Tradewinds LLC. lowered its position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 0.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,644 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 42 shares during the period. Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $1,414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of McDonald’s in the third quarter worth about $44,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in McDonald’s in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $58,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the second quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MCD. Bank of America boosted their price objective on McDonald’s from $321.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $296.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Guggenheim lowered shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $290.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on McDonald’s from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.46.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $290.89 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $208.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.87 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $300.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $277.84. McDonald’s Co. has a one year low of $243.53 and a one year high of $317.90.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.82 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 175.42% and a net margin of 31.79%. McDonald’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share 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 dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This is an increase from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.65%.

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In other McDonald’s news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,098 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.70, for a total value of $316,992.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,632,712.10. This represents a 8.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.36, for a total transaction of $428,967.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $446,721.60. This represents a 48.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,596 shares of company stock worth $10,698,289 in the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About McDonald’s

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.