McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) Shares Sold by Covington Investment Advisors Inc.

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 29,897 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 182 shares during the period. McDonald’s accounts for about 0.8% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $8,667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Easterly Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,985,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,725,190,000. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in McDonald’s by 2.5% during 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 period. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd now owns 27,200 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $7,885,000 after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Finally, LM Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 149.0% in the fourth quarter. LM Advisors LLC now owns 5,029 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,458,000 after buying an additional 3,009 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MCD. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on McDonald’s from $297.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on McDonald’s from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.61.

McDonald’s Price Performance

MCD stock opened at $312.87 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $301.00 and its 200 day moving average is $297.99. The company has a market capitalization of $223.53 billion, a PE ratio of 27.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.71. McDonald’s Co. has a 12 month low of $243.53 and a 12 month high of $326.32.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.16%.

Insider Activity

In other McDonald’s news, 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 value of $3,255,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 32,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,155,997.80. The trade was a 24.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total value of $84,225.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,887 shares in the company, 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 have sold a total of 32,405 shares of company stock worth $9,886,656 over the last quarter. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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, Spain, and the U.K.