St. Clair Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD)

St. Clair Advisors LLC bought a new stake in McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 815 shares of the fast-food giant's stock, valued at approximately $236,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MCD shares. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of McDonald's from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $345.00 price target (up from $340.00) on shares of McDonald's in a research report on Monday, May 5th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of McDonald's in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of McDonald's from $353.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of McDonald's from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $325.91.

Insider Activity at McDonald's

In related news, EVP Manuel Jm Steijaert sold 10,459 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.71, for a total transaction of $3,228,797.89. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,606 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,421,918.26. This trade represents a 69.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,850. The trade was a 7.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 14,436 shares of company stock valued at $4,458,290. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

McDonald's Price Performance

McDonald's stock traded down $2.16 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $314.28. The stock had a trading volume of 2,639,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,556,348. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $311.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $301.18. McDonald's Co. has a twelve month low of $243.53 and a twelve month high of $326.32. The firm has a market cap of $224.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.59, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.57.

McDonald's (NYSE:MCD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.70 EPS. The company's revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that McDonald's Co. will post 12.25 EPS 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. McDonald's's dividend payout ratio is 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.