McDonald’s Corporation $MCD Shares Bought by Viking Fund Management LLC

Viking Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 60.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,000 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Viking Fund Management LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $9,238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in McDonald’s by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,080,505 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $9,752,921,000 after purchasing an additional 646,675 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in McDonald’s in the second quarter valued at about $1,359,276,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in McDonald’s by 17.2% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,637,785 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,130,587,000 after purchasing an additional 533,448 shares during the period. Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its position in McDonald’s by 30,979.0% in the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,596,340 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $806,917,000 after purchasing an additional 2,587,986 shares during the period. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 9,867.5% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,541,008 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $776,608,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515,515 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MCD. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on McDonald’s from $325.00 to $295.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on McDonald’s from $305.00 to $280.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on McDonald’s from $335.00 to $310.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on McDonald’s from $285.00 to $250.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Loop Capital reduced their price target on McDonald’s from $301.00 to $273.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.94.

McDonald’s Trading Up 1.0%

MCD opened at $238.16 on Thursday. McDonald’s Corporation has a twelve month low of $229.20 and a twelve month high of $341.75. The firm has a market cap of $168.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $253.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.74.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The fast-food giant reported $3.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.32 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $7.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.13 billion. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.72% and a negative return on equity of 572.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.19 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $1.93 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 1st. This is a positive change from McDonald’s’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.86. This represents a $7.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.44%.

Trending Headlines about McDonald’s

Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:

• Positive Sentiment: McDonald’s is pursuing a marketing reset centered on personalized digital offers, value meals and more streamlined campaigns. The strategy could improve customer engagement and support sales, although recent promotions have underperformed expectations. Can MCD’s Marketing Reset Help Improve Customer Engagement and Sales?
• Positive Sentiment: The company’s planned roughly $8.5 billion franchisee-support and restaurant-modernization program through 2036, along with potential chicken initiatives and artificial-intelligence tools such as “Archy” for drive-thru operations, could strengthen long-term efficiency and growth. McDonald’s $8.5-billion overhaul brings an AI called Archy to the drive-thru
• Neutral Sentiment: McDonald’s renewed its grassroots youth-football sponsorship for four more years and is reportedly bringing back its Monopoly Go promotion and Halloween Boo Buckets. These initiatives may support brand engagement but are unlikely to materially change near-term earnings. McDonald’s commits to four more years of free grassroots football
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts have trimmed McDonald’s fiscal 2026 and 2027 EPS forecasts, while commentary points to weak U.S. sales, execution problems with value offerings and lower earnings estimates. These revisions reinforce concerns that the turnaround may take time. McDonald’s Stock Down 23% in 6 Months
• Negative Sentiment: A reported class-action lawsuit alleges problems involving AI-driven menu pricing, creating potential legal, reputational and customer-trust risks. McDonald’s faces class action lawsuit over AI-menu pricing allegations

McDonald’s Profile

McDonald’s Corporation is a global quick-service restaurant company that operates and franchises restaurants under the McDonald’s brand. Its restaurants serve a menu that includes hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, French fries, breakfast items, desserts, salads, beverages and coffee. Offerings vary by market, and many locations provide drive-thru service, delivery and digital ordering through the McDonald’s mobile app.

The company operates through a heavily franchised business model, with restaurants owned and operated by independent franchisees, affiliates and the company itself.