New York Life Investment Management LLC Increases Stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 106,545 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after buying an additional 10,632 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $30,886,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Apriem Advisors increased its stake in McDonald’s by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Apriem Advisors now owns 799 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Lineweaver Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in McDonald’s by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Lineweaver Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,179 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $3,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,583 shares during the period. Nwam LLC increased its stake in McDonald’s by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 5,187 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,504,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the period. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 150.1% during the fourth quarter. Stegent Equity Advisors Inc. now owns 2,554 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 1,533 shares during the period. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,391,000. 70.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MCD. Barclays boosted their target price on McDonald’s from $347.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on McDonald’s from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on McDonald’s from $336.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on McDonald’s from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.61.

McDonald’s Trading Down 2.2 %

McDonald’s stock opened at $304.02 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $293.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $294.72. McDonald’s Co. has a 12 month low of $243.53 and a 12 month high of $317.90. The company has a market capitalization of $217.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.74.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.83. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 181.63% and a net margin of 31.73%. On average, equities research analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is currently 62.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.95, for a total transaction of $436,134.05. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $453,882. This represents a 49.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.10, for a total value of $319,918.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,383,235.70. The trade was a 11.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,504 shares of company stock valued at $9,897,305 over the last ninety days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

McDonald’s Company 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.