Brick & Kyle Associates Invests $1.94 Million in McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Brick & Kyle Associates bought a new stake in shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,695 shares of the fast-food giant's stock, valued at approximately $1,941,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MCD. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in McDonald's by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,286 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $2,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,649 shares during the period. LexAurum Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of McDonald's by 47.9% during the 4th quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC now owns 976 shares of the fast-food giant's stock valued at $283,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of McDonald's by 289.5% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 9,788 shares of the fast-food giant's stock valued at $2,837,000 after acquiring an additional 7,275 shares in the last quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in McDonald's by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,815 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in McDonald's by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Cottonwood Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,055 shares of the fast-food giant's stock valued at $1,175,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.07, for a total value of $295,850.73. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,161 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,516,496.27. This represents a 7.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

McDonald's Price Performance

MCD stock traded up $2.17 on Friday, reaching $314.03. 1,353,300 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,496,972. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $312.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $301.89. The company has a market cap of $224.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.57. McDonald's Co. has a one year low of $243.53 and a one year high of $326.32.

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

McDonald's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. McDonald's's dividend payout ratio is presently 62.49%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on McDonald's from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on McDonald's from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Northcoast Research cut McDonald's from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald's from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut McDonald's from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald's has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $325.91.

About McDonald's

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.