Centaurus Financial Inc. increases stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its stake in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD – Free Report) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,387 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the period. The holdings of Centaurus Financial Inc. in McDonald’s were worth $1,373,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have recently modified their positions in the company. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 141,160.9% in the 4th quarter. Gallagher Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 5,613,710 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,664,521,000 after buying an additional 5,609,736 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 66.9% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,471,007 shares of the fast food giant’s stock worth $1,542,550,000 after buying an additional 2,193,769 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the first quarter worth approximately $348,206,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 39.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 3,565,398 shares of the fast food giant’s stock worth $1,005,264,000 after buying an additional 1,012,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,347,048 shares of the fast food giant’s stock worth $2,178,474,000 after purchasing an additional 987,099 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the shares are currently held by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts on Wall Street are forecasting an increase

Several research firms have recently commented on MCD. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $310.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $285.00 to $265.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $284.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $312.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $309.15, according to MarketBeat.com.

Read our latest report on McDonald’s

McDonald’s stock performance

MCD opened at $303.45 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $285.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $271.71. The company has a market cap of $218.69 billion, a PE ratio of 25.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.73. McDonald’s Co. has a 1 year low of $243.53 and a 1 year high of $306.96.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD – Get Your Free Report ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The fast-food giant reported $2.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.07 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $6.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 178.68% and a net margin of 32.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 0.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted EPS of $3.17. On average, sell-side analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.69 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s is increasing its dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. This represents a dividend of $7.08 on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2. This is an increase from McDonald’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.10%.

Insiders place their bets

In other McDonald’s news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 9,291 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $2,833,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 43,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,193,080. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed via this hyperlink. In other McDonald’s news, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 9,291 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total value of $2,833,755.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 43,256 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,193,080. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed via this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,098 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.70, for a total value of $316,992.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,632,712.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,751 shares of company stock worth $9,493,973 over the last 90 days. 0.23% of shares are owned by company insiders.

McDonald’s Company Profile

(Free report)

McDonald’s Corporation operates and franchises restaurants under the McDonald’s brand in the United States and internationally. 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 selling various other items during limited-time promotions.

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