West Branch Capital LLC Purchases 735 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

West Branch Capital LLC increased its position in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,693 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after buying an additional 735 shares during the period. McDonald’s accounts for about 1.1% of West Branch Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. West Branch Capital LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $3,340,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC now owns 988 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 7,486 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,170,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,117 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,535,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Pettee Investors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Pettee Investors Inc. now owns 5,401 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,566,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 899 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at McDonald’s

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $315.07, for a total transaction of $295,850.73. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,516,496.27. This represents a 7.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $353.00 to $364.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Redburn Atlantic restated a “sell” rating and set a $260.00 price objective (down previously from $319.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $305.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Loop Capital downgraded shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $346.00 to $315.00 in a report on Friday, June 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $321.79.

McDonald’s Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:MCD opened at $301.57 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $215.63 billion, a PE ratio of 26.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.56. McDonald’s Co. has a 12 month low of $243.53 and a 12 month high of $326.32. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $311.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $302.92.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.17 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.73% and a negative return on equity of 181.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.70 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is 62.49%.

McDonald’s 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.