McDonald’s’ (MCD) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Loop Capital

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Loop Capital in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $342.00 target price on the fast-food giant’s stock. Loop Capital’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 16.48% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Baird R W lowered shares of McDonald’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on McDonald’s from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $321.00 to $324.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lowered McDonald’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $320.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $305.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.65.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCD traded up $1.10 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $293.61. The company had a trading volume of 815,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,956,094. McDonald’s has a 52 week low of $243.53 and a 52 week high of $317.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $210.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.78, a PEG ratio of 3.95 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $294.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $284.66.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The fast-food giant reported $3.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.18 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.82 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 175.42% and a net margin of 31.79%. McDonald’s’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.19 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that McDonald’s will post 11.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other McDonald’s news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 2,346 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.00, for a total value of $727,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 2,905 shares in the company, valued at $900,550. The trade was a 44.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 3,409 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.15, for a total value of $989,121.35. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,675 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,807,201.25. This represents a 26.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 10,551 shares of company stock worth $3,120,554. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McDonald’s

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring 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% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 677,139 shares during the last quarter. Mondrian Investment Partners LTD bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s in the second quarter worth approximately $110,321,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in McDonald’s in the third quarter worth about $121,254,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 8.0% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,761,625 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,216,677,000 after acquiring an additional 354,196 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

McDonald’s Company Profile

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.