McDonald’s Corporation $MCD Shares Bought by Verus Financial Partners Inc.

Verus Financial Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 8.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,040 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $305,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mattern Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 29,970 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $8,756,000 after purchasing an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Exchange Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,245 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $3,285,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 4,607 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,346,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Ping Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ping Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,600 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trinity Legacy Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,470,000. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $373.00 to $381.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Loop Capital cut shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $346.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Friday, June 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of McDonald’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $325.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In other news, EVP Jonathan Banner sold 1,000 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total transaction of $310,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 99 shares in the company, valued at $30,690. This trade represents a 90.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,487 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total transaction of $770,970.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,754 shares in the company, valued at $2,713,740. This represents a 22.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,402 shares of company stock worth $2,273,407. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCD opened at $300.09 on Friday. McDonald’s Corporation has a one year low of $276.53 and a one year high of $326.32. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $306.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $306.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.71, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.50.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The fast-food giant reported $3.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.15 by $0.04. McDonald’s had a net margin of 32.21% and a negative return on equity of 225.52%. The firm had revenue of $6.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.97 earnings per share. McDonald’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.67%.

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.