X Square Capital LLC Cuts Stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

X Square Capital LLC cut its holdings in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,089 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 61 shares during the period. X Square Capital LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $316,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCD. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 6,396.9% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 4,158 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,205,000 after acquiring an additional 4,094 shares in the last quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,985,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in McDonald’s during the fourth quarter worth $2,725,190,000. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in McDonald’s by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 343,731 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $99,644,000 after buying an additional 8,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd increased its stake in McDonald’s by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 27,200 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $7,885,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MCD. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on McDonald’s from $297.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on McDonald’s from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Bank of America raised their price objective on McDonald’s from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on McDonald’s from $336.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.61.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Tiffanie L. Boyd sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.27, for a total transaction of $309,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,564 shares in the company, valued at $1,720,778.28. The trade was a 15.23 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 10,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total transaction of $3,255,525.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 32,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,155,997.80. This trade represents a 24.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,405 shares of company stock worth $9,886,656. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

McDonald’s Price Performance

MCD stock opened at $312.87 on Friday. McDonald’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $326.32. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $301.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $297.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.71.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.83. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.73% and a negative return on equity of 181.63%. On average, equities analysts expect that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.16%.

McDonald’s Company 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.