Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 5,128 Shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 453,804 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after purchasing an additional 5,128 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC owned approximately 0.06% of McDonald's worth $132,208,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald's in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Atala Financial Inc purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald's in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald's in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in shares of McDonald's during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC raised its position in McDonald's by 110.0% during the fourth quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 105 shares of the fast-food giant's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald's

In related news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 10,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total transaction of $3,255,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 32,756 shares in the company, valued at $10,155,997.80. This represents a 24.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Tiffanie L. Boyd sold 1,000 shares of McDonald's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.27, for a total value of $309,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,564 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,720,778.28. The trade was a 15.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 27,497 shares of company stock valued at $8,461,400. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on MCD. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on McDonald's from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of McDonald's from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of McDonald's from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of McDonald's in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on McDonald's from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $322.87.

McDonald's Price Performance

Shares of McDonald's stock traded down $1.35 during trading on Thursday, hitting $302.61. 2,977,044 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,565,431. McDonald's Co. has a twelve month low of $243.53 and a twelve month high of $326.32. The company has a market cap of $216.20 billion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.62. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $305.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $298.93.

McDonald's (NYSE:MCD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald's had a negative return on equity of 181.63% and a net margin of 31.73%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that McDonald's Co. will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald's Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. McDonald's's payout ratio is presently 62.16%.

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.