McDonald’s Corporation $MCD Shares Sold by Quantbot Technologies LP

Quantbot Technologies LP trimmed its position in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 34.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,052 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 2,127 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $1,231,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCD. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in McDonald’s by 21.6% during 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 raised its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,942 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $563,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 11.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,017 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $589,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 8,102 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,367,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position in McDonald’s by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 12,938 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $3,780,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting McDonald’s

Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:

• Positive Sentiment: McDonald’s renewed a multi‑year global technology partnership with Capgemini to modernize guest and crew platforms, supporting digital scale and the company’s “Accelerating the Arches” strategy — a potential margin and efficiency tailwind. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Management is pursuing aggressive unit growth — targeting 50,000 restaurants by 2027 with ~2,600 openings planned in 2026 — which is a clear growth catalyst if franchise economics hold and new units drive system sales. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Fresh and revived brand partnerships (new Happy Meal collaborations, a Crocs Happy Meal tie‑in, and NHL promotional items in Canada) boost marketing momentum and can drive incremental traffic and AUVs on a low incremental cost basis. Read More. Read More. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/investor positioning trends such as the recent “HALO” trade (investors rotating into defensive, consumer‑staples names) could support demand for MCD as a relatively defensive, high‑quality consumer stock even as growth cycles shift. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: The nationwide rollout of the Big Arch Burger has drawn mixed consumer reviews and is testing premium pricing — raising short‑term execution and value perception questions that investors watch closely. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: A short, awkward viral video of McDonald’s CEO sampling the Big Arch triggered a social‑media backlash and competitor response (Burger King, Wendy’s taste‑test posts), creating reputational noise and distracting from product messaging — a near‑term sentiment headwind. Read More. Read More.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 26,276 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.54, for a total transaction of $8,764,097.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 22,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,638,066. This trade represents a 53.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 4,692 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.00, for a total value of $1,553,052.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 6,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,052,200. This trade represents a 43.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 71,517 shares of company stock worth $23,655,503. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on McDonald’s from $325.00 to $320.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Argus raised McDonald’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $340.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of McDonald’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $338.07.

McDonald’s Stock Down 1.3%

MCD stock opened at $327.34 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $317.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $310.90. McDonald’s Corporation has a 52-week low of $283.47 and a 52-week high of $341.75. The company has a market capitalization of $232.54 billion, a PE ratio of 27.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.51.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The fast-food giant reported $3.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.05 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $7.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.81 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.85% and a negative return on equity of 343.90%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 3rd will be given a $1.86 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is presently 62.26%.

McDonald’s Company Profile

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.

Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.