Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Purchases 1,133 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,268 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,133 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $5,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in McDonald’s by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,513 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the third quarter worth approximately $1,472,000. VitalStone Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 148.8% in the third quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 311 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $95,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its position in McDonald’s by 65.8% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 27,040 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $8,234,000 after purchasing an additional 10,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its position in shares of McDonald’s by 1.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 329,417 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $100,311,000 after acquiring an additional 4,480 shares during the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

McDonald’s Price Performance

McDonald’s stock opened at $310.16 on Wednesday. McDonald’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $317.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.27 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50-day moving average is $291.02 and its 200-day moving average is $291.56.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.83. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 175.42% and a net margin of 31.79%. As a group, analysts expect that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In other McDonald’s news, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 3,409 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,675 shares in the company, valued at $2,807,201.25. This trade represents a 26.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.50, for a total value of $321,457.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,155. This represents a 10.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,406 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,857 in the last ninety days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MCD. Truist Financial decreased their target price on McDonald’s from $342.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $336.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.61.

McDonald’s Company Profile

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, Russia, Spain, and the U.K.