McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) Stock Price Down 0.4% Following Analyst Downgrade

McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)’s stock price fell 0.4% during trading on Tuesday after Guggenheim lowered their price target on the stock from $315.00 to $280.00. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the stock. McDonald’s traded as low as $248.62 and last traded at $249.11. 707,687 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 3,412,052 shares. The stock had previously closed at $249.99.

MCD has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $305.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. UBS Group cut their price target on McDonald’s from $340.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on McDonald’s from $327.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 12th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on McDonald’s from $312.00 to $297.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on McDonald’s from $337.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $313.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McDonald’s news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,098 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $285,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 14,780 shares in the company, valued at $3,842,800. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $265.13, for a total transaction of $291,377.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 15,878 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,209,734.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,098 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total value of $285,480.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 14,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,842,800. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,095 shares of company stock worth $1,100,625 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of McDonald’s

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 5.3% in the second quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 16,605 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $4,232,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 3.8% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 122,424 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $31,199,000 after purchasing an additional 4,457 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 32.6% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,767 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,725,000 after purchasing an additional 1,664 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 1.2% in the second quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC now owns 84,567 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $21,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New Hampshire boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 0.7% during the second quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 7,389 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,883,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $262.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $278.79. The company has a market capitalization of $178.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.04, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.71.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The fast-food giant reported $2.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.71 by ($0.01). McDonald’s had a net margin of 33.36% and a negative return on equity of 180.74%. The company had revenue of $6.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.16 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.63 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.19 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a $1.67 dividend. This represents a $6.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is presently 56.71%.

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.