Byrne Asset Management LLC Sells 100 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Byrne Asset Management LLC cut its stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 6.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,459 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $456,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 0.8% in 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 buying an additional 526,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 1.0% in 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 buying an additional 157,458 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 5.2% in 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 buying an additional 531,070 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in McDonald’s during the 4th quarter valued at $2,725,190,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in 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 valued at $2,570,511,000 after purchasing an additional 895,896 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Thursday, June 5th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $345.00 price target (up from $340.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $324.00 price target (down from $329.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on McDonald’s from $353.00 to $364.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $321.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.07, for a total value of $295,850.73. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,161 shares in the company, valued at $3,516,496.27. The trade was a 7.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:MCD opened at $301.57 on Friday. McDonald’s Co. has a 12-month low of $243.53 and a 12-month high of $326.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.48, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $311.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $302.92.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.17 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 181.63% and a net margin of 31.73%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.70 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. 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.