Aberdeen Group plc Trims Stake in McDonald’s Corporation $MCD

Aberdeen Group plc reduced its holdings in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 518,874 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after selling 10,006 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc owned 0.07% of McDonald’s worth $158,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of McDonald’s by 162.5% during the 3rd quarter. Evergreen Private Wealth LLC now owns 84 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp increased its stake in McDonald’s by 95.7% in the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 92 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC raised its position in McDonald’s by 735.7% during the third quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 117 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Davis Capital Management purchased a new stake in McDonald’s during the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Saranac Partners Ltd bought a new stake in McDonald’s during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about McDonald’s

Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New simplified McValue menu — McDonald’s is launching a streamlined McValue menu with 10 items under $3 (includes breakfast options like hash browns and a Sausage McMuffin), a clearer value offering designed to drive transactions and mobile engagement. McDonald’s tries a simpler approach with its new McValue menu
• Positive Sentiment: Additional value pricing — New $4 breakfast deals and other low-priced options should help protect traffic and same-store sales in price-sensitive segments. New $4 breakfast and other savings coming to McDonald’s menus
• Positive Sentiment: K‑pop / entertainment marketing — The global “KPop Demon Hunters” tie-in (meals, collectibles, digital content) targets younger audiences to boost app traffic, time-in-app and brand relevance — metrics that can translate into higher frequency and wallet share over time. McDonald’s (MCD) Valuation Check As New KPop Demon Hunters Campaign Targets Younger Fans
• Positive Sentiment: Longer-term beverage upside — McDonald’s push to expand McCafé and target a larger beverage market is a strategic growth lever with outsized margin potential if execution and pricing hold. Can McDonald’s Tap a $100B Beverage Opportunity in 2026?
• Positive Sentiment: Recent fundamentals support — McDonald’s beat on EPS and revenue in its last quarterly report, signaling resilient demand and margin profile versus expectations.
• Neutral Sentiment: Leadership changes — A U.S. COO role and other reshuffles aim to sharpen operations and ESG focus; execution risk is low but investors will watch guidance and KPIs for proof of impact. McDonald’s creates US COO role
• Neutral Sentiment: Supplier context — Supplier Lamb Weston’s margin pressure highlights input-cost volatility that could flow through to restaurant margins in pockets; but lower crop costs next year could ease this. Frozen Out: Lamb Weston Beats Earnings, but the Stock Still Slides
• Negative Sentiment: Macro and market headwinds — Rising mortgage rates and a broader market uptick are pressuring consumer discretionary spending and lifting market volatility, which is weighing on MCD’s intraday performance. Ticker: McDonald’s simplifies McValue deals; Mortgage rates climb
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term stock drag from market moves — Analysts note recent session weakness amid a market uptick; short-term price action appears driven more by broad market momentum than fresh company-specific negative news. McDonald’s (MCD) Stock Falls Amid Market Uptick: What Investors Need to Know

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Jonathan Banner sold 6,201 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.29, for a total transaction of $2,066,731.29. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 2,291 shares in the company, valued at $763,567.39. The trade was a 73.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 26,276 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.54, for a total value of $8,764,097.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 22,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,638,066. The trade was a 53.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 71,657 shares of company stock valued at $23,722,204. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial upped their price objective on McDonald’s from $356.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $340.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Argus upgraded McDonald’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird set a $335.00 target price on McDonald’s in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $339.69.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

Shares of MCD stock opened at $307.17 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $218.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.70, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.53. McDonald’s Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $283.47 and a fifty-two week high of $341.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $321.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $311.47.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The fast-food giant reported $3.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.07. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.85% and a negative return on equity of 343.90%. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $1.86 per share. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is 62.26%.

McDonald’s Profile

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.

Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.