Centennial Bank AR Reduces Stock Position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Centennial Bank AR lessened its stake in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 3.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,343 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 95 shares during the quarter. Centennial Bank AR’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $713,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MCD. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 3.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,149,080 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,567,030,000 after buying an additional 188,888 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 66.9% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,471,007 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,542,550,000 after buying an additional 2,193,769 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 8.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,761,625 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,216,677,000 after buying an additional 354,196 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 39.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,565,398 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,005,264,000 after buying an additional 1,012,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 31,151.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,319,142 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $706,202,000 after buying an additional 2,311,721 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCD has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $295.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $319.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McDonald’s news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,098 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.70, for a total transaction of $316,992.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,632,712.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other McDonald’s news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,098 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.70, for a total transaction of $316,992.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,632,712.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.36, for a total transaction of $428,967.28. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $446,721.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,097 shares of company stock valued at $10,256,818 over the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCD opened at $295.21 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $298.36 and its 200 day moving average is $275.90. McDonald’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $317.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.77 billion, a PE ratio of 25.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.74.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.82 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.79% and a negative return on equity of 178.99%. McDonald’s’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. This is a positive change from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is presently 58.65%.

McDonald’s Profile

McDonald's Corporation operates and franchises restaurants under the McDonald's brand in the United States and internationally. It offers food and beverages, including hamburgers and cheeseburgers, various chicken sandwiches, fries, shakes, desserts, sundaes, cookies, pies, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages; and full or limited breakfast, as well as sells various other products during limited-time promotions.