Kentucky Trust Co Invests $789,000 in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,722 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock, valued at approximately $789,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,394,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,628,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,564,359 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,694,403,000 after buying an additional 49,106 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 49,186 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $14,978,000 after buying an additional 2,997 shares during the period. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,471,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MCD has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp raised their target price on McDonald’s from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $342.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on McDonald’s from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush lifted their price objective on McDonald’s from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.61.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In other McDonald’s news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.95, for a total value of $436,134.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $453,882. The trade was a 49.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 9,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,155. The trade was a 10.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,406 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,857. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $310.16 on Wednesday. McDonald’s Co. has a 12 month low of $243.53 and a 12 month high of $317.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $291.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $291.56. The stock has a market cap of $222.27 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 175.42% and a net margin of 31.79%. Analysts expect that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $1.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is 62.16%.

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, Russia, Spain, and the U.K.