Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 269,750 Shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 98.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,183 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after selling 269,750 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.'s holdings in McDonald's were worth $1,213,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $20,341,391,000 after acquiring an additional 526,466 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $4,652,768,000 after acquiring an additional 157,458 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $3,088,037,000 after acquiring an additional 531,070 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of McDonald's during the 4th quarter worth about $2,725,190,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $2,570,511,000 after acquiring an additional 895,896 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on MCD shares. Barclays increased their target price on shares of McDonald's from $347.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of McDonald's from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of McDonald's from $340.00 to $335.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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. Finally, Northcoast Research cut shares of McDonald's from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, McDonald's presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $325.91.

Insider Transactions at McDonald's

In other McDonald's news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $286,395.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,978 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,263,290. This represents a 6.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Tiffanie L. Boyd sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.27, for a total transaction of $309,270.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,564 shares in the company, valued at $1,720,778.28. This trade represents a 15.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 14,436 shares of company stock valued at $4,458,290 over the last 90 days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

McDonald's Price Performance

McDonald's stock opened at $319.63 on Wednesday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $310.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $301.07. McDonald's Co. has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $326.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $228.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.06, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.57.

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

McDonald's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders 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 2.22%. McDonald's's payout ratio is currently 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.

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