McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) Sees Large Volume Increase Following Analyst Upgrade

McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) saw strong trading volume on Monday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $336.00 to $340.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. 2,161,793 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 27% from the previous session’s volume of 2,976,311 shares.The stock last traded at $308.09 and had previously closed at $294.30.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on MCD. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $336.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Loop Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $342.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $297.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $290.00 to $285.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.61.

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total transaction of $84,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 7,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,214,275.25. This represents a 3.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.95, for a total transaction of $436,134.05. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $453,882. This represents a 49.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,406 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,857. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MCD. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,169,342 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $20,341,391,000 after purchasing an additional 526,466 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 220,365 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 128,800 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,803,833 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,682,473,000 after purchasing an additional 52,195 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,694,202 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,650,692,000 after purchasing an additional 129,843 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $222.27 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $291.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $291.56.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 175.42% and a net margin of 31.79%. As a group, equities analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 11.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.16%.

About McDonald’s

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, Russia, Spain, and the U.K.