McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) Shares Sold by Trust Co. of Vermont

Trust Co. of Vermont lessened its holdings in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 1.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 48,502 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 720 shares during the quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $15,151,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,169,342 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $20,341,391,000 after purchasing an additional 526,466 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,074,438 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,652,768,000 after buying an additional 157,458 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in McDonald’s by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,652,445 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $3,088,037,000 after buying an additional 531,070 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at $2,725,190,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,867,193 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $2,570,511,000 after buying an additional 895,896 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.07, for a total value of $295,850.73. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,161 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,516,496.27. This represents a 7.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,817 shares of company stock worth $865,843. Insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on MCD shares. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $292.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on McDonald’s from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup increased their price target on McDonald’s from $353.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Argus lowered McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Finally, TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $321.79.

McDonald’s Price Performance

MCD stock opened at $285.79 on Friday. McDonald’s Corporation has a 1 year low of $243.53 and a 1 year high of $326.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $204.35 billion, a PE ratio of 25.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.56. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $308.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $302.49.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.67. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 195.27% and a net margin of 31.75%. The company had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.70 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is currently 62.49%.

About McDonald’s

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.