Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Sells 591 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lessened its stake in shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,726 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 591 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $3,979,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in McDonald’s in the third quarter valued at about $1,394,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,564,359 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,694,403,000 after buying an additional 49,106 shares in the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of McDonald’s by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 49,186 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $14,978,000 after buying an additional 2,997 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,471,000. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in McDonald’s during the third quarter valued at approximately $16,870,000. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In other news, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 3,409 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.15, for a total value of $989,121.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 9,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,807,201.25. The trade was a 26.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,214,275.25. This represents a 3.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 8,905 shares of company stock worth $2,592,327. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on McDonald’s from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Robert W. Baird cut McDonald’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $320.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $290.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $320.78.

McDonald’s Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MCD opened at $285.37 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $291.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $288.43. McDonald’s Co. has a 12-month low of $243.53 and a 12-month high of $317.90. The company has a market capitalization of $204.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.05, a PEG ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.73.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.82 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 175.42% and a net margin of 31.79%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.19 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Profile

McDonald's Corporation operates and franchises restaurants under the McDonald's brand in the United States and internationally. It offers food and beverages, including hamburgers and cheeseburgers, various chicken sandwiches, fries, shakes, desserts, sundaes, cookies, pies, soft drinks, coffee, and other beverages; and full or limited breakfast, as well as sells various other products during limited-time promotions.