Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Purchases 2,104 Shares of McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD)

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in shares of McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 97.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,254 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after purchasing an additional 2,104 shares during the quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in McDonald's were worth $1,329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of McDonald's by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,169,342 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $20,341,391,000 after purchasing an additional 526,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 531,070 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in McDonald's in the 4th quarter valued at $2,725,190,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in McDonald's by 11.2% in 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 in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other McDonald's news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.50, for a total value of $299,071.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 12,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,853,850. The trade was a 7.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MCD shares. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price objective on shares of McDonald's in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald's from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Redburn Atlantic reaffirmed a "sell" rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (down from $319.00) on shares of McDonald's in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $345.00 price objective (up from $340.00) on shares of McDonald's in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Argus cut shares of McDonald's from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, June 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $321.79.

McDonald's Stock Performance

Shares of MCD stock opened at $289.24 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $206.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $311.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $302.86. McDonald's Corporation has a 52 week low of $243.53 and a 52 week high of $326.32.

McDonald's (NYSE:MCD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.67. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.17 billion. McDonald's had a net margin of 31.75% and a negative return on equity of 195.27%. McDonald's's revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.70 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that McDonald's Corporation will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. McDonald's's 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MCD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.