Allianz SE Purchases Shares of 67,353 McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Allianz SE acquired a new stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 67,353 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock, valued at approximately $19,513,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. United Bank increased its stake in McDonald’s by 3.5% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 6,446 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,963,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in McDonald’s by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,053 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $321,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC bought a new position in McDonald’s in the third quarter worth approximately $216,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in McDonald’s by 11.6% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 30,844 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $9,392,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares during the period. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 28.7% during the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 13,773 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $4,183,000 after acquiring an additional 3,074 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In other news, EVP Tiffanie L. Boyd sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.27, for a total value of $309,270.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,720,778.28. This represents a 15.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total value of $84,225.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,214,275.25. This represents a 3.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 32,405 shares of company stock worth $9,886,656 over the last quarter. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $306.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $219.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a fifty day moving average of $301.52 and a 200-day moving average of $298.10. McDonald’s Co. has a 52-week low of $243.53 and a 52-week high of $326.32.

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

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is 62.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MCD shares. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Erste Group Bank raised McDonald’s from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.61.

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.