Samalin Investment Counsel LLC Increases Position in McDonald’s Corporation $MCD

Samalin Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 4.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,006 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,409,095 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $21,993,689,000 after purchasing an additional 239,753 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 16.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,341,460 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,917,993,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344,954 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 1.1% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,965,159 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,800,447,000 after purchasing an additional 97,966 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,019,019 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,454,963,000 after acquiring an additional 504,085 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 19.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,982,825 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,556,485,000 after acquiring an additional 815,768 shares during the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MCD. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Northcoast Research lowered shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of McDonald’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $326.38.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,487 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $770,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,754 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,713,740. This trade represents a 22.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 976 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.50, for a total transaction of $296,216.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer owned 7,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,392,187. This trade represents a 11.02% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,341 shares of company stock worth $2,229,327 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Stock Down 0.3%

MCD stock opened at $313.18 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $299.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $306.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. McDonald’s Corporation has a 52 week low of $276.53 and a 52 week high of $326.32.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The fast-food giant reported $3.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 32.21% and a negative return on equity of 225.52%. The business’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.97 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.67%.

McDonald’s Company 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.