Brokerages Set McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) Price Target at $319.64

Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirty brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $319.64.

MCD has been the subject of a number of research reports. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $355.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Finally, Baird R W lowered McDonald’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In other McDonald’s news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.57, for a total transaction of $328,128.43. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,484 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,428,777.88. This trade represents a 8.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 11,727 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.03, for a total value of $3,518,451.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,966,996.55. The trade was a 19.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 34,099 shares of company stock worth $10,273,786 over the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McDonald’s

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of McDonald’s by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,916,980 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,833,510,000 after purchasing an additional 220,365 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in McDonald’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,082,894 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,592,892,000 after buying an additional 128,800 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in McDonald’s by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,149,080 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,567,030,000 after buying an additional 188,888 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in McDonald’s by 0.9% in the third 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 buying an additional 49,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 8.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,761,625 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,216,677,000 after acquiring an additional 354,196 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Price Performance

Shares of MCD opened at $301.47 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $299.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $280.30. McDonald’s has a 1 year low of $243.53 and a 1 year high of $317.90. The firm has a market cap of $216.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.98 and a beta of 0.73.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.82 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.79% and a negative return on equity of 175.42%. McDonald’s’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.19 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that McDonald’s will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Increases 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 given a dividend of $1.77 per share. This is an increase from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.16%.

McDonald’s Company Profile

McDonald's Corporation operates and franchises restaurants under the McDonald's brand in the United States and internationally. It 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 sells various other products during limited-time promotions.