Brokerages Set McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) PT at $320.65

McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-eight brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seventeen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $320.65.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MCD shares. KeyCorp upped their price target on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $321.00 to $324.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Guggenheim lowered shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $290.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Argus raised McDonald’s from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th.

McDonald’s Price Performance

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $294.78 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $211.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $294.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $284.66. McDonald’s has a 52-week low of $243.53 and a 52-week high of $317.90.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.05. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.79% and a negative return on equity of 175.42%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.19 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that McDonald’s will post 11.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other McDonald’s news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.51, for a total transaction of $441,470.49. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $459,435.60. This represents a 49.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 2,346 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $727,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 2,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,550. This trade represents a 44.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,050 shares of company stock worth $3,556,688. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McDonald’s

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of McDonald’s by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,916,980 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,833,510,000 after buying an additional 220,365 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,082,894 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $4,592,892,000 after acquiring an additional 128,800 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake 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 worth $1,567,030,000 after acquiring an additional 188,888 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in McDonald’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,564,359 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,694,403,000 after acquiring an additional 49,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $1,216,677,000 after purchasing an additional 354,196 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

About McDonald’s

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.