Westmount Partners LLC Decreases Holdings in McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD)

Westmount Partners LLC trimmed its position in McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 28.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,255 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after selling 898 shares during the quarter. Westmount Partners LLC's holdings in McDonald's were worth $705,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of McDonald's in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in shares of McDonald's in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Abound Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of McDonald's in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. bought a new position in shares of McDonald's in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of McDonald's in the 1st quarter worth $31,000. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on McDonald's from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp reduced their target price on McDonald's from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 30th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of McDonald's in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Erste Group Bank lowered McDonald's from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $345.00 price objective (up from $340.00) on shares of McDonald's in a report on Monday, May 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $322.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald's

In other news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 1,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 8,858 shares in the company, valued at $2,657,400. This trade represents a 10.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.52, for a total value of $270,920.28. Following the transaction, the insider owned 10,222 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,949,251.44. This represents a 8.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 3,817 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,843. 0.25% of the stock is owned by insiders.

McDonald's Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MCD traded up $1.41 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $299.80. The company had a trading volume of 4,494,100 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,528,540. McDonald's Corporation has a twelve month low of $246.12 and a twelve month high of $326.32. The stock has a market cap of $214.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.53. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $304.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $302.54.

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

McDonald's Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. McDonald's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.49%.

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.