SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. Buys 300 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

SS&H Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 11.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,853 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. SS&H Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $869,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,049,310 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $20,473,811,000 after purchasing an additional 599,745 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,347,048 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,178,474,000 after purchasing an additional 987,099 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 3.2% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,149,080 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,567,030,000 after purchasing an additional 188,888 shares in the last quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 141,160.9% during the fourth quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 5,613,710 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,664,521,000 after purchasing an additional 5,609,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 66.9% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,471,007 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,542,550,000 after buying an additional 2,193,769 shares during the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

McDonald’s Price Performance

NYSE:MCD traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $304.21. 422,257 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,377,997. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $288.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $272.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.79, a PEG ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.73. McDonald’s Co. has a 52-week low of $243.53 and a 52-week high of $306.96.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The fast-food giant reported $2.97 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.07 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $6.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 32.25% and a negative return on equity of 178.68%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.69 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This is a boost from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In other McDonald’s news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 11,727 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.03, for a total transaction of $3,518,451.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,885 shares in the company, valued at $14,966,996.55. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 11,727 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.03, for a total value of $3,518,451.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 49,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,966,996.55. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 9,291 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $2,833,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 43,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,193,080. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 31,751 shares of company stock worth $9,493,973 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCD has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $312.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, McDonald’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.50.

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.