McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD) Shares Sold by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co trimmed its stake in shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 34.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,030 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after selling 1,620 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co's holdings in McDonald's were worth $878,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in McDonald's by 12.7% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,675 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $2,033,000 after purchasing an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald's in the third quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of McDonald's by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,093 shares of the fast-food giant's stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in McDonald's by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,937 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $2,591,000 after purchasing an additional 636 shares during the period. Finally, NRI Wealth Management LC purchased a new position in McDonald's during the 4th quarter worth $1,868,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at McDonald's

In other news, EVP Tiffanie L. Boyd sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.27, for a total transaction of $309,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,720,778.28. This represents a 15.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.50, for a total transaction of $299,071.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,100 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,853,850. This trade represents a 7.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 28,136 shares of company stock valued at $8,676,247. Insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MCD shares. Barclays raised their price target on McDonald's from $347.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. TD Securities restated a "hold" rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of McDonald's in a research note on Monday, February 10th. BTIG Research reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of McDonald's in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of McDonald's from $292.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Northcoast Research downgraded shares of McDonald's from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $325.91.

McDonald's Price Performance

McDonald's stock traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $317.51. 712,944 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,562,193. McDonald's Co. has a 1 year low of $243.53 and a 1 year high of $326.32. The firm has a market cap of $227.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $309.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $300.00.

McDonald's (NYSE:MCD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.67. McDonald's had a negative return on equity of 181.63% and a net margin of 31.73%. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.70 earnings per share. The company's 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 year.

McDonald's Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. McDonald's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.49%.

About McDonald's

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.