McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) Price Target Raised to $340.00

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) had its price objective raised by Morgan Stanley from $336.00 to $340.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the fast-food giant’s stock.

MCD has been the topic of a number of other reports. Baird R W cut shares of McDonald’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Loop Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $342.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.61.

McDonald’s Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MCD opened at $309.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $222.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.22, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74. McDonald’s has a 52 week low of $243.53 and a 52 week high of $317.90. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $291.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $292.08.

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

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total transaction of $84,225.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 7,887 shares in the company, valued at $2,214,275.25. This trade represents a 3.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 10,500 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total transaction of $3,255,525.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 32,756 shares in the company, valued at $10,155,997.80. This represents a 24.27 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,906 shares of company stock worth $5,406,382. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of McDonald’s

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MCD. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of McDonald’s by 1.7% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,513 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the third quarter worth approximately $1,472,000. VitalStone Financial LLC grew its position in shares of McDonald’s by 148.8% during the third quarter. VitalStone Financial LLC now owns 311 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its position in shares of McDonald’s by 65.8% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 27,040 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $8,234,000 after buying an additional 10,733 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its position in shares of McDonald’s by 1.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 329,417 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $100,311,000 after buying an additional 4,480 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

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.