Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Decreases Stock Position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 307,535 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 14,386 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $89,151,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in McDonald’s by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,169,342 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $20,341,391,000 after buying an additional 526,466 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 1.0% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 157,458 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 5.2% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 531,070 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,725,190,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,867,193 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,570,511,000 after purchasing an additional 895,896 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Tiffanie L. Boyd sold 1,000 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,720,778.28. This trade represents a 15.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.50, for a total value of $299,071.50. Following the transaction, the insider now 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. Insiders have sold a total of 13,337 shares of company stock worth $4,123,534 over the last quarter. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on McDonald’s from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Northcoast Research lowered McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Citigroup raised their target price on 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. raised their target price on McDonald’s from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $325.91.

McDonald’s Price Performance

NYSE MCD opened at $314.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $224.72 billion, a PE ratio of 27.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $311.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $301.32. McDonald’s Co. has a 1-year low of $243.53 and a 1-year high of $326.32.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.67. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.17 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 181.63% and a net margin of 31.73%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.70 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.