McDonald's - MCD Short Interest Ratio & Short Volume

Short interest is the volume of McDonald's shares that have been sold short but have not yet been covered or closed out. As of February 28th, traders have sold 5,810,000 shares of MCD short. 0.80% of McDonald's' shares are currently sold short. Learn More on McDonald's' current short interest.

The short interest ratio, also known as the "days to cover ratio", is calculated by dividing the number of shares of a stock sold short divided by its average trading volume. A short interest ratio ranging between 1 and 4 generally indicates strong positive sentiment about a stock and a lack of short sellers. A short interest ratio of 10 or greater indicates strong pessimism about a stock. MCD shares currently have a short interest ratio of 2.0. Learn More on McDonald's's short interest ratio.

As of the most recent reporting period, the following institutional investors, funds, and major shareholders have reported short positions of McDonald's: Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P., Portman Square Capital LLP, Point72 Middle East FZE, Jane Street Group LLC, Squarepoint Ops LLC, Lavaca Capital LLC, Lombard Odier Asset Management USA Corp, Millennium Management LLC, Maven Securities LTD, Nomura Holdings Inc., Delta Accumulation LLC, Boothbay Fund Management LLC, Centiva Capital LP, Point72 Asset Management L.P., Point72 Hong Kong Ltd, Susquehanna International Group LLP, CSS LLC IL, Verition Fund Management LLC, Wells Fargo & Company MN, Barclays PLC, Capital Fund Management S.A., JPMorgan Chase & Co., QVR LLC, Bank of America Corp DE, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC, Group One Trading L.P., IMC Chicago LLC, Citigroup Inc., HighTower Advisors LLC, UBS Group AG, SpiderRock Advisors LLC, Cutler Group LLC CA, Monaco Asset Management SAM, SG Americas Securities LLC, Simplex Trading LLC, Gladius Capital Management LP, Wolverine Asset Management LLC, Monaco Asset Management SAM, Concourse Financial Group Securities Inc., and XR Securities LLC. These positions are disclosed in Form 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Companies that have a short interest as a percentage of float below 10% indicates positive investor sentiment and few short sellers. Stocks with a short interest percentage above 10% is considered high, suggesting some investors are pessimistic about the stock. Companies with a short interest percentage of 20% or more indicates widespread negative sentiment. 0.80% of McDonald's' floating shares are currently sold short.

McDonald's saw a increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totaling 5,810,000 shares, an increase of 13.7% from the previous total of 5,110,000 shares. Changes in short volume can be used to identify positive and negative investor sentiment. Investors that short sell a stock are betting that its price will decline in the future. An increase in short sale volume suggests bearish (negative) sentiment among investors. A decrease on short sale volume suggests bullish (positive) sentiment.

McDonald's currently has issued a total of 731,500,000 shares. Some of McDonald's' outstanding shares are available for trading, while others are subject to various restrictions. The public float, also referred to as floating shares or "the float", are shares that publicly owned, unrestricted and available to trade on the open market. McDonald's currently has a public float of 730,400,000 shares.

0.80% of McDonald's' shares are currently sold short. Here is how the short interest of companies in the sector of "retail/wholesale" compare to McDonald's: Costco Wholesale Co. (0.70%), Alibaba Group Holding Limited (2.41%), Lowe's Companies, Inc. (1.65%), Starbucks Co. (1.05%), CVS Health Co. (1.15%), The Home Depot, Inc. (1.19%), Booking Holdings Inc. (1.59%), The TJX Companies, Inc. (0.57%), Target Co. (2.07%), and MercadoLibre, Inc. (2.08%).

As of the most recent reporting period, the following stocks had the largest short interest positions: Suncor Energy Inc. ($3.27 billion), Occidental Petroleum Co. ($2.77 billion), Coinbase Global, Inc. ($2.25 billion), T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. ($2.23 billion), Paramount Global ($1.92 billion), Etsy, Inc. ($1.75 billion), Voya Financial, Inc. ($1.74 billion), CarMax, Inc. ($1.62 billion), Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. ($1.62 billion), and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ($1.39 billion). View all of the most shorted stocks.

Short selling MCD is an investing strategy that aims to generate trading profit from McDonald's as its price is falling. MCD shares are trading up $3.54 today. To short a stock, an investor borrows shares, sells them and buys the shares back on the public market later to return it to the lender. Short sellers are betting that a stock will decline in price. If the stock does drop after selling, the short seller buys it back at a lower price and returns it to the lender. The difference between the sell price and the buy price is the trader's profit.

A short squeeze for McDonald's occurs when it has a large amount of short interest and its stock increases in price. This forces short sellers to cover their short interest positions by buying actual shares of MCD, which in turn drives the price of the stock up even further.

Short interest is typically published by a stock exchange once per month. However, NASDAQ publishes a report for U.S. stocks, including MCD, twice per month. The most recent reporting period available is February, 28 2023.