McDonald’s Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:MCD)

McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors acquired 53,490 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 77% compared to the average volume of 30,291 call options.

Insider Transactions at McDonald’s

In other McDonald’s news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,498 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.36, for a total value of $428,967.28. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $446,721.60. This trade represents a 48.99 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.57, for a total value of $328,128.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,484 shares in the company, valued at $3,428,777.88. This trade represents a 8.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,597 shares of company stock valued at $10,702,754. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of McDonald’s

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MCD. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the 3rd quarter worth $1,394,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in McDonald’s during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,612,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $1,694,403,000 after purchasing an additional 49,106 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 58.9% during the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 138,102 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $35,194,000 after purchasing an additional 51,210 shares during the period. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in McDonald’s by 6.5% during the third quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 49,186 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $14,978,000 after purchasing an additional 2,997 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

McDonald’s Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE MCD traded up $1.68 on Friday, hitting $296.76. 761,152 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,482,230. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $299.98 and a 200 day moving average of $278.78. The company has a market capitalization of $212.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.92 and a beta of 0.74. McDonald’s has a twelve month low of $243.53 and a twelve month high of $317.90.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.18 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.82 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 175.42% and a net margin of 31.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.19 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that McDonald’s will post 11.77 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a $1.77 dividend. This is a boost from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.67. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MCD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on McDonald’s from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. KeyCorp lifted their price target on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird downgraded McDonald’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on McDonald’s from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on McDonald’s from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.46.

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.