Robert W. Baird Issues Positive Forecast for McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) Stock Price

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) had its price objective raised by Robert W. Baird from $305.00 to $310.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the fast-food giant’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $347.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $297.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $342.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $323.61.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

McDonald’s stock opened at $310.16 on Tuesday. McDonald’s has a 1 year low of $243.53 and a 1 year high of $317.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $291.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $291.56. The company has a market cap of $222.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.23, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts predict that McDonald’s will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.16%.

Insider Transactions at McDonald’s

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

Institutional Trading of McDonald’s

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in McDonald’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $703,074,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in McDonald’s by 31,151.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,319,142 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $706,202,000 after buying an additional 2,311,721 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in McDonald’s by 542.9% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 801,858 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $244,174,000 after buying an additional 677,139 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in McDonald’s by 43,591.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 590,711 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $171,241,000 after buying an additional 589,359 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in McDonald’s by 0.8% during 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 buying an additional 526,466 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.