Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 14,842 Shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 22.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,365 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after buying an additional 14,842 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in McDonald's were worth $23,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in McDonald's in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald's in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Collier Financial bought a new position in shares of McDonald's during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Fairway Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of McDonald's by 110.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 105 shares of the fast-food giant's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Finally, GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of McDonald's in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

McDonald's Stock Down 0.6 %

MCD stock opened at $311.78 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $309.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $300.08. The stock has a market cap of $222.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.62. McDonald's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $326.32.

McDonald's (NYSE:MCD - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.67. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.17 billion. McDonald's had a net margin of 31.73% and a negative return on equity of 181.63%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.70 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that McDonald's Co. will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. McDonald's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on MCD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald's from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $342.00 price target on shares of McDonald's in a report on Friday, January 3rd. KeyCorp increased their price objective on McDonald's from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. BTIG Research restated a "neutral" rating on shares of McDonald's in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on McDonald's from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, McDonald's presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $325.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 3,200 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.76, for a total value of $962,432.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer now owns 9,858 shares in the company, valued at $2,964,892.08. This trade represents a 24.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total value of $3,255,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 32,756 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,155,997.80. This trade represents a 24.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 28,136 shares of company stock valued at $8,676,247. Insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

McDonald's 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, Spain, and the U.K.

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