Meridian Wealth Management LLC Sells 117 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC lowered its holdings in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,362 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 117 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $2,134,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mattern Capital Management LLC raised its stake in McDonald’s by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 30,110 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $8,729,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Bell Bank grew its position in McDonald’s by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Bell Bank now owns 12,699 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $3,681,000 after buying an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in McDonald’s during the third quarter worth about $1,394,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in McDonald’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,628,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 49,106 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on McDonald’s from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $347.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $336.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $297.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.61.

McDonald’s Price Performance

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $303.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $294.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $295.64. McDonald’s Co. has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $317.90. The firm has a market cap of $216.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.74.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 181.63% and a net margin of 31.73%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.16%.

Insider Transactions at McDonald’s

In other news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 32,756 shares in the company, valued at $10,155,997.80. This trade represents a 24.27 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $291.10, for a total value of $319,918.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 8,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,383,235.70. This represents a 11.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,504 shares of company stock worth $10,206,575 in the last quarter. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.