EP Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 216,186 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,811 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $65,831,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 93.1% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 93,333 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $28,421,000 after acquiring an additional 45,005 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,082,894 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $4,592,892,000 after purchasing an additional 128,800 shares in the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the third quarter valued at about $16,870,000. Wills Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in McDonald’s in the third quarter worth about $236,000. Finally, Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc boosted its position in McDonald’s by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 2,862 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $872,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MCD shares. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of McDonald’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $320.00 to $290.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on McDonald’s from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Argus raised shares of McDonald’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on McDonald’s from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $319.64.

McDonald’s Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MCD opened at $298.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $214.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.23, a PEG ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.73. McDonald’s Co. has a 12 month low of $243.53 and a 12 month high of $317.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $299.53 and its 200 day moving average is $279.58.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.05. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.79% and a negative return on equity of 175.42%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $1.77 per share. This is an increase from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.16%.

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In related news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 11,727 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.03, for a total transaction of $3,518,451.81. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,885 shares in the company, valued at $14,966,996.55. The trade was a 19.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.57, for a total transaction of $328,128.43. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,484 shares in the company, valued at $3,428,777.88. The trade was a 8.73 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 34,099 shares of company stock valued at $10,273,786 over the last ninety days. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

McDonald’s Company 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.