CWS Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 54 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

CWS Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,731 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the quarter. McDonald’s comprises approximately 0.8% of CWS Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position. CWS Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $2,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quent Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,006 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $848,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the 1st quarter valued at about $729,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the first quarter valued at approximately $444,000. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 7.1% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 6,933 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,955,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the period. Finally, Railway Pension Investments Ltd increased its position in shares of McDonald’s by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd now owns 131,600 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $37,105,000 after purchasing an additional 7,100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In related news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.51, for a total transaction of $441,470.49. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $459,435.60. This trade represents a 49.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.50, for a total value of $321,457.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 9,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,155. This trade represents a 10.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,597 shares of company stock valued at $10,702,754. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. UBS Group boosted their target price on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on McDonald’s from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $319.46.

McDonald’s Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:MCD opened at $295.08 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.46 billion, a PE ratio of 25.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $299.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $278.78. McDonald’s Co. has a 52 week low of $243.53 and a 52 week high of $317.90.

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

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors 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. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is currently 58.65%.

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.