McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) Trading Up 0.1% – Time to Buy?

Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) traded up 0.1% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $310.15 and last traded at $309.45. 725,658 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 3,575,615 shares. The stock had previously closed at $309.10.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MCD. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of McDonald’s from $342.00 to $340.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $342.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup cut their price objective on McDonald’s from $360.00 to $353.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on McDonald’s from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $322.87.

McDonald’s Stock Up 1.2 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $307.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $299.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.62.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.83. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.73% and a negative return on equity of 181.63%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $1.77 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $7.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. McDonald’s’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.16%.

Insider Activity at McDonald’s

In other news, EVP Tiffanie L. Boyd sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.27, for a total value of $309,270.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,720,778.28. This represents a 15.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,887 shares in the company, valued at $2,214,275.25. The trade was a 3.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 27,497 shares of company stock valued at $8,461,400. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McDonald’s

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 0.6% during the first quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 16,776 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $5,240,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in McDonald’s by 6.0% during the first quarter. Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,078 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. 1900 Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of McDonald’s by 2.9% during the first quarter. 1900 Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,796 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 30.6% in the first quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 4,800 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after purchasing an additional 1,126 shares during the period. Finally, Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in McDonald’s by 12.1% during the 1st quarter. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,488 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $465,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Company Profile

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, Spain, and the U.K.