Pacer Advisors Inc. Raises Stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 8.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 72,369 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,638 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $22,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 3.2% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,149,080 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,567,030,000 after acquiring an additional 188,888 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 8.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,761,625 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,216,677,000 after acquiring an additional 354,196 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 31,151.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,319,142 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $706,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311,721 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 1.1% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,015,441 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $613,722,000 after acquiring an additional 22,780 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in McDonald’s by 8.5% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,772,338 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $451,689,000 after acquiring an additional 138,191 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MCD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on McDonald’s from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Argus raised McDonald’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Baird R W downgraded McDonald’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on McDonald’s from $270.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $319.46.

McDonald’s Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MCD opened at $290.30 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $299.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $278.06. The stock has a market cap of $208.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.49, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.74. McDonald’s Co. has a 52-week low of $243.53 and a 52-week high of $317.90.

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

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. This is a boost from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In other news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,498 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.36, for a total transaction of $428,967.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $446,721.60. This represents a 48.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.57, for a total value of $328,128.43. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,428,777.88. This represents a 8.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,498 shares of company stock worth $10,381,296 in the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

McDonald’s Company Profile

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.