Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Has $5.31 Million Stock Holdings in McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC boosted its position in shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 7.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,985 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after acquiring an additional 1,161 shares during the quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings in McDonald's were worth $5,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in McDonald's by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,169,342 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $20,341,391,000 after acquiring an additional 526,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in McDonald's by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,074,438 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $4,652,768,000 after acquiring an additional 157,458 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in McDonald's by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,652,445 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $3,088,037,000 after acquiring an additional 531,070 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of McDonald's in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,725,190,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of McDonald's by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,867,193 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $2,570,511,000 after buying an additional 895,896 shares during the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $345.00 target price (up previously from $340.00) on shares of McDonald's in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Northcoast Research cut shares of McDonald's from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Loop Capital cut shares of McDonald's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $346.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of McDonald's from $353.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of McDonald's from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $321.79.

McDonald's Trading Up 0.4%

MCD stock traded up $1.21 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $302.93. The stock had a trading volume of 2,581,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,507,052. McDonald's Co. has a 52 week low of $243.53 and a 52 week high of $326.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $311.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $302.88.

McDonald's (NYSE:MCD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.70 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that McDonald's Co. will post 12.25 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. McDonald's's dividend payout ratio is currently 62.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald's

In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of McDonald's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.50, for a total transaction of $299,071.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,853,850. The trade was a 7.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

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.