Freedom Investment Management Inc. Has $1.04 Million Stock Position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Freedom Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,420 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $1,041,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MCD. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,006 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $848,000 after purchasing an additional 282 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP grew its stake in McDonald’s by 109.0% in the first quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 1,549 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 808 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in McDonald’s in the first quarter valued at approximately $729,000. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. raised its position in shares of McDonald’s by 5.4% during the first quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 2,003 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s in the 1st quarter worth $444,000. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCD has been the topic of several research reports. Guggenheim downgraded shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $290.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Truist Financial cut their price target on McDonald’s from $350.00 to $342.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on McDonald’s from $284.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Thirteen research 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $319.46.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $295.02 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.94 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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $299.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $278.67.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.82 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.79% and a negative return on equity of 175.42%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. This is a positive change from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.57, for a total value of $328,128.43. Following the sale, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,498 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.36, for a total transaction of $428,967.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $446,721.60. This represents a 48.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 35,597 shares of company stock worth $10,702,754. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About McDonald’s

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.