First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Sells 568 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. cut its holdings in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 3.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 14,217 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 568 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $4,329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MCD. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 18,558 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $5,651,000 after purchasing an additional 4,721 shares in the last quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in McDonald’s by 9.4% during the third quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,247 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $989,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the 3rd quarter valued at about $649,000. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,716 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in shares of McDonald’s by 1.0% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 100,204 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $30,513,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other McDonald’s news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 2,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total transaction of $727,260.00. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 2,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,550. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 2,346 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 2,905 shares in the company, valued at $900,550. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 9,291 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $2,833,755.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,193,080. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,097 shares of company stock worth $10,221,233 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on MCD. Citigroup increased their price target on McDonald’s from $301.00 to $317.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on McDonald’s from $295.00 to $290.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on McDonald’s from $288.00 to $278.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $315.69.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCD opened at $316.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $228.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.87, a P/E/G ratio of 4.05 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $294.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $273.73. McDonald’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $317.18.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The fast-food giant reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.07 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $6.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 178.68% and a net margin of 32.25%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.71 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.24%. This is an increase from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is 60.10%.

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.