McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

McDonald's Co. (NYSE:MCD - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-eight brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and sixteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $325.91.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of McDonald's from $335.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Barclays upped their price objective on McDonald's from $347.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Erste Group Bank downgraded McDonald's from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. BTIG Research restated a "neutral" rating on shares of McDonald's in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on McDonald's from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $318.50, for a total transaction of $299,071.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,850. This trade represents a 7.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of McDonald's by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,409,095 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $21,993,689,000 after purchasing an additional 239,753 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in McDonald's by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,074,438 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $4,652,768,000 after buying an additional 157,458 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in McDonald's by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 10,652,445 shares of the fast-food giant's stock worth $3,088,037,000 after buying an additional 531,070 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in McDonald's during the 4th quarter valued at $2,725,190,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of McDonald's by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,341,460 shares of the fast-food giant's stock valued at $2,917,993,000 after acquiring an additional 1,344,954 shares during the period. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

McDonald's Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MCD stock traded down $0.69 on Friday, reaching $311.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,068,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,496,858. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $312.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $302.34. McDonald's has a 1 year low of $243.53 and a 1 year high of $326.32. The company has a market capitalization of $222.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.56.

McDonald's (NYSE:MCD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $2.67. McDonald's had a net margin of 31.73% and a negative return on equity of 181.63%. The business had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.70 earnings per share. McDonald's's quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that McDonald's will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current year.

McDonald's Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be given a dividend of $1.77 per share. This represents a $7.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. McDonald's's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.49%.

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.