California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Stake in McDonald’s Corporation $MCD

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 28.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,477,259 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 978,802 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.35% of McDonald’s worth $723,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nova Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in McDonald’s during the first quarter worth about $26,000. HFM Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. increased its position in shares of McDonald’s by 142.9% during the 2nd quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 85 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, GFG Capital LLC bought a new stake in McDonald’s in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

McDonald’s Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $311.11 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $304.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $303.83. McDonald’s Corporation has a 12-month low of $276.53 and a 12-month high of $326.32. The firm has a market cap of $221.56 billion, a PE ratio of 26.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.52.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The fast-food giant reported $3.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.33 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $7.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.10 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 280.89% and a net margin of 32.04%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a $1.86 dividend. This is an increase from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.77. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.48%.

Insider Transactions at McDonald’s

In other news, EVP Manuel Jm Steijaert sold 6,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.50, for a total transaction of $2,006,218.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 4,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,407,133. The trade was a 58.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 3,195 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.82, for a total value of $977,094.90. Following the transaction, the insider owned 6,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,861,832.16. This represents a 34.42% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 40,030 shares of company stock worth $12,240,570. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MCD has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $295.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Mizuho raised shares of McDonald’s to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $335.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $360.00 to $350.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $324.57.

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.