McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD) Shares Sold by Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH reduced its stake in McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 210,328 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after selling 2,105 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH's holdings in McDonald's were worth $65,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCD. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald's in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,725,190,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald's by 39,039.7% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,497,919 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $1,092,645,000 after acquiring an additional 3,488,982 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of McDonald's during the fourth quarter worth approximately $703,074,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of McDonald's in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $350,935,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 895,896 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 owns 11,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,516,496.27. This trade represents a 7.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Loop Capital downgraded shares of McDonald's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $346.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald's from $347.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $345.00 price objective (up from $340.00) on shares of McDonald's in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $324.00 price objective (down from $329.00) on shares of McDonald's in a research report on Monday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic restated a "sell" rating and set a $260.00 price objective (down from $319.00) on shares of McDonald's in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $321.79.

McDonald's Price Performance

MCD stock traded up $1.21 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $302.93. 2,581,660 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,507,059. The firm has a market cap of $216.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.60, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.56. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $311.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $302.83. McDonald's Co. has a 1-year low of $243.53 and a 1-year high of $326.32.

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

McDonald's Announces Dividend

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 issued a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. McDonald's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.