McDonald’s’ (MCD) “Hold” Rating Reaffirmed at TD Securities

TD Securities reissued their hold rating on shares of McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $300.00 price target on the fast-food giant’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MCD. Robert W. Baird cut shares of McDonald’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $320.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on McDonald’s from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on McDonald’s from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Baird R W cut McDonald’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on McDonald’s from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.13.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

Shares of McDonald’s stock opened at $308.22 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $290.70 and its 200 day moving average is $291.16. McDonald’s has a one year low of $243.53 and a one year high of $317.90. The stock has a market cap of $220.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.06, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74.

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

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $1.77 dividend. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is presently 62.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McDonald’s news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.95, for a total transaction of $436,134.05. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at $453,882. This represents a 49.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total transaction of $84,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,887 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,214,275.25. This represents a 3.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,406 shares of company stock worth $2,150,857 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McDonald’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MCD. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Atala Financial Inc bought a new position in McDonald’s in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Comprehensive Financial Planning Inc. PA purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Fairway Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 110.0% in the 4th quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC now owns 105 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.