Castle Wealth Management LLC Has $508,000 Stock Holdings in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Castle Wealth Management LLC decreased its holdings in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 29.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,752 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 731 shares during the period. Castle Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $508,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MCD. Riversedge Advisors LLC increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 2.0% during the third quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 1,686 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $513,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 1.0% during the third quarter. Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,472 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,057,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 2.8% during the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. GDS Wealth Management increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 1.4% during the third quarter. GDS Wealth Management now owns 2,504 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $762,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boltwood Capital Management boosted its position in McDonald’s by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Boltwood Capital Management now owns 1,882 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim cut shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $290.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $347.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.61.

McDonald’s Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $307.47 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $220.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.99, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74. McDonald’s Co. has a 12-month low of $243.53 and a 12-month high of $317.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $291.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.97.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.79% and a negative return on equity of 175.42%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is 62.16%.

Insider Transactions at McDonald’s

In other news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.95, for a total value of $436,134.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $453,882. This represents a 49.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.50, for a total transaction of $321,457.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 9,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,155. This trade represents a 10.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,406 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,857. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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, Russia, Spain, and the U.K.