Van Strum & Towne Inc. Boosts Holdings in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)

Van Strum & Towne Inc. grew its holdings in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 8.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,600 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Van Strum & Towne Inc.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $812,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 valued at $20,341,391,000 after buying an additional 526,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $4,652,768,000 after buying an additional 157,458 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted 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 valued at $3,088,037,000 after buying an additional 531,070 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the 4th quarter valued at $2,725,190,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in McDonald’s by 11.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 895,896 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MCD shares. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $364.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on McDonald’s from $350.00 to $356.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on McDonald’s from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $324.00 to $326.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $319.72.

McDonald’s Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of McDonald’s stock traded down $1.68 on Monday, reaching $295.40. 180,314 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,515,536. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $302.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $302.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.53. McDonald’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $246.12 and a twelve month high of $326.32.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.75% and a negative return on equity of 195.27%. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.70 EPS. McDonald’s’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.49%.

Insider Transactions at McDonald’s

In other news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 8,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,657,400. This trade represents a 10.14% decrease in their position. The sale 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 firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.52, for a total value of $270,920.28. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 10,222 shares in the company, valued at $2,949,251.44. This trade represents a 8.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 3,817 shares of company stock worth $1,165,843 in the last ninety days. 0.25% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.