McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) Price Target Raised to $360.00 at Citigroup

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) had its target price boosted by Citigroup from $336.00 to $360.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the fast-food giant’s stock.

MCD has been the subject 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Loop Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $342.00 price target on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Guggenheim cut McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $290.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on McDonald’s from $347.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.61.

McDonald’s Price Performance

McDonald’s stock opened at $310.16 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $291.02 and its 200-day moving average is $291.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $222.27 billion, a PE ratio of 27.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74. McDonald’s has a fifty-two week low of $243.53 and a fifty-two week high of $317.90.

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

McDonald’s Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at McDonald’s

In related news, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.95, for a total transaction of $436,134.05. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 7,887 shares in the company, valued at $2,214,275.25. This represents a 3.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,406 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,857. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in McDonald’s by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,236 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $938,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. First American Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of McDonald’s by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. First American Trust FSB now owns 23,683 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $6,865,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA increased its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 108.4% in the fourth quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA now owns 971 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its position in McDonald’s by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 1,838 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 549 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in McDonald’s by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,297,910 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $376,251,000 after acquiring an additional 75,540 shares during the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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, Russia, Spain, and the U.K.