McDonald’s’ (MCD) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets reissued their outperform rating on shares of McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $345.00 target price on the fast-food giant’s stock, up from their previous target price of $340.00.

MCD has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on McDonald’s from $340.00 to $335.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on McDonald’s from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. KeyCorp raised their target price on McDonald’s from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $312.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong 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 price target of $325.48.

McDonald’s Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE:MCD opened at $315.73 on Monday. McDonald’s has a 52 week low of $243.53 and a 52 week high of $326.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $309.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $299.88. The company has a market capitalization of $225.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.57.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.67. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.73% and a negative return on equity of 181.63%. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.70 EPS. McDonald’s’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that McDonald’s will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is currently 62.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $286,395.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,978 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,263,290. This represents a 6.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total value of $3,255,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 32,756 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,155,997.80. This trade represents a 24.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,136 shares of company stock valued at $8,676,247 over the last three months. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McDonald’s

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in McDonald’s by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,169,342 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $20,341,391,000 after purchasing an additional 526,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in McDonald’s by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,074,438 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $4,652,768,000 after acquiring an additional 157,458 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,652,445 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $3,088,037,000 after purchasing an additional 531,070 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,725,190,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,867,193 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $2,570,511,000 after purchasing an additional 895,896 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Company Profile

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, Spain, and the U.K.