LM Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD)

LM Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 149.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,029 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after acquiring an additional 3,009 shares during the quarter. LM Advisors LLC's holdings in McDonald's were worth $1,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in McDonald's in the fourth quarter valued at $2,725,190,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of McDonald's during the fourth quarter worth $703,074,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of McDonald's during the fourth quarter worth $350,935,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in 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. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of McDonald's by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,054,387 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $1,175,326,000 after acquiring an additional 794,536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.07, for a total value of $295,850.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,161 shares in the company, valued at $3,516,496.27. This trade represents a 7.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MCD shares. Robert W. Baird increased 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. TD Securities reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective on shares of McDonald's in a research note on Monday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up from $340.00) on shares of McDonald's in a report on Monday, May 5th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of McDonald's from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of McDonald's from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, McDonald's has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $325.91.

McDonald's Price Performance

Shares of McDonald's stock traded down $1.02 during trading on Thursday, hitting $311.82. The stock had a trading volume of 2,248,762 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,526,541. McDonald's Co. has a 12 month low of $243.53 and a 12 month high of $326.32. The stock has a market cap of $222.96 billion, a PE ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.57. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $312.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $301.82.

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

McDonald's Announces Dividend

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

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.