Ameriflex Group Inc. Invests $304,000 in McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,052 shares of the fast-food giant's stock, valued at approximately $304,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of McDonald's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,725,190,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of McDonald's in the fourth quarter worth about $703,074,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald's in the 4th quarter worth $350,935,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in McDonald's by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,867,193 shares of the fast-food giant's stock valued at $2,570,511,000 after buying an additional 895,896 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald's by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,054,387 shares of the fast-food giant's stock valued at $1,175,326,000 after buying an additional 794,536 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on MCD shares. Truist Financial set a $350.00 target price on McDonald's in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of McDonald's from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of McDonald's from $340.00 to $335.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wedbush lifted 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. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of McDonald's in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $325.91.

McDonald's Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MCD traded down $1.02 on Thursday, reaching $311.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,248,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,526,540. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.96 billion, a PE ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.57. McDonald's Co. has a twelve month low of $243.53 and a twelve month high of $326.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $312.15 and a 200-day moving average of $301.82.

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

McDonald's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. McDonald's's payout ratio is 62.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of McDonald's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.07, for a total transaction of $295,850.73. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,161 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,516,496.27. The trade was a 7.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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, Spain, and the U.K.