Archford Capital Strategies LLC Purchases 44 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Archford Capital Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,821 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Archford Capital Strategies LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $2,557,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MCD. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in McDonald’s by 31,151.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,319,142 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $706,202,000 after buying an additional 2,311,721 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in shares of McDonald’s by 542.9% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 801,858 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $244,174,000 after purchasing an additional 677,139 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the 3rd quarter valued at $121,254,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 3,580.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 268,650 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $81,807,000 after purchasing an additional 261,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in McDonald’s by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,916,980 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,833,510,000 after purchasing an additional 220,365 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.95, for a total transaction of $436,134.05. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $453,882. The trade was a 49.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $84,225.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,214,275.25. This trade represents a 3.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,905 shares of company stock valued at $2,592,327 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MCD. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of McDonald’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $320.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup upgraded McDonald’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $311.00 to $334.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $295.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on McDonald’s from $340.00 to $336.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $320.78.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCD opened at $285.37 on Friday. 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 cap of $204.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $291.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.14.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.72 earnings per share for the current year.

About McDonald’s

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.