Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Trims Stock Position in McDonald’s Corporation $MCD

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. cut its stake in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 3.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,011 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 142 shares during the quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $1,181,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MCD. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of McDonald’s by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 9,286 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,649 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of McDonald’s by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,942 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $563,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of McDonald’s by 10.9% during the first quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,616 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $817,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. SSA Swiss Advisors AG purchased a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the first quarter worth approximately $175,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of McDonald’s by 25.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,198 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $3,498,000 after acquiring an additional 2,261 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In related news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.00, for a total transaction of $315,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer owned 6,858 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,160,270. This trade represents a 12.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.49, for a total transaction of $281,221.11. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 9,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,780,165.67. This trade represents a 9.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 6,402 shares of company stock worth $1,973,407. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

McDonald’s Price Performance

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $297.07 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $306.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $305.69. McDonald’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $276.53 and a 1 year high of $326.32. The stock has a market cap of $211.99 billion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.50.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The fast-food giant reported $3.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $356.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 4th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $335.00 price objective (up from $325.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $327.00 to $322.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $325.18.

McDonald’s 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.