Versant Capital Management Inc Buys 957 Shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 87.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,050 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc's holdings in McDonald's were worth $640,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of McDonald's by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,169,342 shares of the fast-food giant's stock valued at $20,341,391,000 after purchasing an additional 526,466 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 157,458 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 531,070 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of McDonald's during the fourth quarter worth $2,725,190,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in McDonald's by 11.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 895,896 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on MCD shares. Northcoast Research lowered shares of McDonald's from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of McDonald's from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. TD Securities reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of McDonald's in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on shares of McDonald's from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $325.91.

McDonald's Stock Down 0.3%

MCD stock traded down $1.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $311.64. The stock had a trading volume of 893,544 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,502,166. The firm has a market cap of $222.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $312.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $302.20.

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

McDonald's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. McDonald's's dividend payout ratio is presently 62.49%.

Insider Activity at McDonald's

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