AQR Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in McDonald's Corporation $MCD

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in McDonald's Corporation by 10.9%, selling 33,991 shares during the first quarter, leaving them with 279,148 shares valued at approximately $86.3 million.
• Institutional investors now hold 70.29% of McDonald’s stock, with notable activities including Nuveen LLC acquiring a new stake valued at about $1.32 billion during the same quarter.
• McDonald's recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.77, representing a 2.2% dividend yield, and is set to distribute this dividend on September 16th related to the record date of September 2nd.

AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 10.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 279,148 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after selling 33,991 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC's holdings in McDonald's were worth $86,343,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MCD. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in McDonald's during the first quarter worth $1,324,961,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in 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. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in McDonald's by 16.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,341,460 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $2,917,993,000 after acquiring an additional 1,344,954 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in McDonald's by 19.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,982,825 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $1,556,485,000 after acquiring an additional 815,768 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in McDonald's during the fourth quarter worth $211,824,000. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 1,000 shares of McDonald's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total value of $315,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 6,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,160,270. The trade was a 12.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,487 shares of McDonald's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $770,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,754 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,713,740. This trade represents a 22.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,341 shares of company stock valued at $2,544,327 in the last ninety days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

McDonald's Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE MCD traded down $5.54 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $306.98. The company had a trading volume of 1,170,258 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,537,773. The company has a market capitalization of $219.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.49. McDonald's Corporation has a 1 year low of $276.53 and a 1 year high of $326.32. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $304.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $306.61.

McDonald's (NYSE:MCD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The fast-food giant reported $3.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.68 billion. McDonald's had a negative return on equity of 225.52% and a net margin of 32.21%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that McDonald's Corporation will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald's Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. McDonald's's payout ratio is 60.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on MCD shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on McDonald's from $327.00 to $322.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 18th. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating on shares of McDonald's in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on McDonald's from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Erste Group Bank lowered McDonald's from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on McDonald's from $314.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, McDonald's has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $325.14.

McDonald's 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.