McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) Shares Up 0.1%

McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) shares shot up 0.1% on Monday . The company traded as high as $268.51 and last traded at $267.75. 989,344 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 3,210,443 shares. The stock had previously closed at $267.39.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MCD. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $340.00 to $335.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $340.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $343.00 to $340.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.72.

McDonald’s Stock Down 0.3 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $284.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $280.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $191.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.71.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 5th. The fast-food giant reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.83 by $0.12. McDonald’s had a net margin of 33.22% and a negative return on equity of 171.96%. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.59 earnings per share. McDonald’s’s revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.35 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $1.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.74%.

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.38, for a total value of $312,533.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,075 shares in the company, valued at $5,140,168.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On McDonald’s

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in McDonald’s by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,049,310 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $20,473,811,000 after purchasing an additional 599,745 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 106,340.3% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 19,235,890 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $5,069,234,000 after acquiring an additional 19,217,818 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 1.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,200,473 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,423,773,000 after acquiring an additional 151,161 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s in the fourth quarter worth about $2,684,899,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,347,048 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,178,474,000 after acquiring an additional 987,099 shares during 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.