Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Has $529,000 Position in McDonald’s Corporation $MCD

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC reduced its stake in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,809 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 51 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $529,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MCD. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 21.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,286 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,692,000 after buying an additional 1,649 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,942 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 10.9% in the first quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,616 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $817,000 after buying an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Clare Market Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 14.8% in the first quarter. Clare Market Investments LLC now owns 1,987 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $621,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Matrix Trust Co increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 1.1% in the first quarter. Matrix Trust Co now owns 7,571 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,365,000 after buying an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,487 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total transaction of $770,970.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,754 shares in the company, valued at $2,713,740. The trade was a 22.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 1,000 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total value of $300,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer directly owned 8,858 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,657,400. This represents a 10.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,402 shares of company stock worth $2,273,407. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MCD. Melius started coverage on McDonald’s in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “sell” rating and a $250.00 target price for the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on McDonald’s from $373.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. Redburn Atlantic reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $260.00 price objective (down from $319.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on McDonald’s from $356.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded McDonald’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Eleven research 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, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $325.86.

McDonald’s Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of MCD opened at $300.09 on Friday. McDonald’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $276.53 and a 1 year high of $326.32. The stock has a market cap of $214.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $306.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $306.19.

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

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

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

McDonald’s 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.