Rathbones Group PLC Cuts Stake in McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Rathbones Group PLC cut its position in shares of McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Free Report) by 17.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 475,135 shares of the fast-food giant's stock after selling 97,106 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC owned about 0.07% of McDonald's worth $137,737,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. U S Wealth Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of McDonald's during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,305,000. Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of McDonald's by 62.0% in the 4th quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,351 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $682,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of McDonald's by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,277,907 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $1,240,122,000 after purchasing an additional 583,649 shares during the last quarter. Certior Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in McDonald's during the fourth quarter valued at about $386,000. Finally, Polymer Capital Management US LLC bought a new stake in McDonald's during the fourth quarter valued at about $404,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at McDonald's

In other news, EVP Tiffanie L. Boyd sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.27, for a total transaction of $309,270.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 5,564 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,720,778.28. This represents a 15.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of McDonald's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total value of $84,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,887 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,214,275.25. This represents a 3.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 27,497 shares of company stock worth $8,461,400. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of McDonald's from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of McDonald's from $310.00 to $300.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Bank of America upped their price target on McDonald's from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on McDonald's from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on McDonald's from $360.00 to $353.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $322.87.

McDonald's Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MCD traded up $1.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $307.98. 1,854,655 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,569,672. The stock has a market cap of $220.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.96, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.62. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $305.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $298.97. McDonald's Co. has a 12-month low of $243.53 and a 12-month high of $326.32.

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

McDonald's Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. McDonald's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.16%.

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.