With the shares slipping early this morning, the shares are now trading below where the stock was at the beginning of the year. Despite the poor sales, the company does have room to raise its dividend, with the payout ratio being a tad over 50%, as well as the ability to do share buybacks. Now this strategy can help the shares avoid a big pullback, but unless the company can bring customers back and stave off the assault from tastier competitors (Chipotle Mexican Grill being the best example), the long-term sales trend may be quite a cloud hanging over mutual fund investors.
Funds with Heavy McDonald’s Ownership
Speaking of mutual funds, there is no fund family betting bigger on McDonald’s than Vanguard. The mutual fund giant has four of the top five largest-positions in the fast food behemoth:
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) owns over 15.7M shares.
Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX) owns 10.1 M shares.
Vanguard Institutional Index Fund-Institutional Index Fund (VINIX) owns 9.9M shares.
Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund Investor Shares (VDIGX) owns 6.32M shares.
The Bottom Line
If the recent sales slide continues, shares could be set up for a late-’90s swoon that eventually saw the stock give back more than 60% of its value. We’ll be watching to see how mutual fund managers reassess their positions and if they see current troubles continuing.