Advocate Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in McDonald’s Corporation $MCD

Advocate Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,526 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after buying an additional 301 shares during the quarter. McDonald’s accounts for 1.6% of Advocate Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $9,211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 valued at $21,993,689,000 after purchasing an additional 239,753 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted 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 valued at $2,917,993,000 after purchasing an additional 1,344,954 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted 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 valued at $2,800,447,000 after purchasing an additional 97,966 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 2.5% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 5,142,473 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,606,354,000 after purchasing an additional 123,454 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 19.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,982,825 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,556,485,000 after purchasing an additional 815,768 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

McDonald’s Price Performance

NYSE MCD opened at $297.07 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $211.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.50. McDonald’s Corporation has a 12 month low of $276.53 and a 12 month high of $326.32. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $306.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $305.74.

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

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is 60.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In other McDonald’s news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $315,000.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 6,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,160,270. This represents a 12.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,487 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total transaction of $770,970.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,754 shares in the company, valued at $2,713,740. This trade represents a 22.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 6,402 shares of company stock valued at $1,973,407 over the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MCD shares. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $324.00 to $326.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $310.00 to $295.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 price objective (up from $325.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $325.18.

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.