McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) Shares Sold by First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. cut its position in McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,459 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after selling 998 shares during the period. McDonald's makes up 2.2% of First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 18th largest position. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in McDonald's were worth $10,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Aviva PLC grew its holdings in McDonald's by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 432,406 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $125,350,000 after acquiring an additional 23,024 shares during the period. Segment Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of McDonald's by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC now owns 54,672 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $17,078,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of McDonald's by 22.9% during the 1st quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 17,226 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $5,381,000 after purchasing an additional 3,212 shares during the period. Great Waters Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of McDonald's during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $864,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of McDonald's by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 15,449 shares of the fast-food giant's stock valued at $4,826,000 after purchasing an additional 1,775 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of McDonald's from $292.00 to $314.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $305.00 target price on shares of McDonald's in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up previously from $340.00) on shares of McDonald's in a report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating and issued a $324.00 price objective (down from $329.00) on shares of McDonald's in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Northcoast Research cut McDonald's from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $321.17.

McDonald's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCD traded up $0.93 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $292.48. The company had a trading volume of 5,053,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,531,915. McDonald's Corporation has a twelve month low of $243.53 and a twelve month high of $326.32. The stock has a market cap of $209.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.56. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $308.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $302.52.

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, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.67. McDonald's had a negative return on equity of 195.27% and a net margin of 31.75%. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.70 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that McDonald's Corporation will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald's Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. McDonald's's payout ratio is currently 62.49%.

Insider Transactions at McDonald's

In other McDonald's news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.52, for a total value of $270,920.28. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 10,222 shares in the company, valued at $2,949,251.44. The trade was a 8.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 2,817 shares of company stock worth $865,843 in the last ninety days. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.