Bank of America Increases McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) Price Target to $316.00

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) had its price target hoisted by Bank of America from $312.00 to $316.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the fast-food giant’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on MCD. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Baird R W cut shares of McDonald’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $320.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays increased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $347.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $336.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.61.

McDonald’s Trading Up 0.8 %

MCD stock opened at $309.99 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $222.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.22, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74. McDonald’s has a 12 month low of $243.53 and a 12 month high of $317.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $291.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $292.08.

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

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total value of $84,225.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 7,887 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,214,275.25. This trade represents a 3.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Christopher J. Kempczinski sold 10,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $310.05, for a total transaction of $3,255,525.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 32,756 shares in the company, valued at $10,155,997.80. The trade was a 24.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,906 shares of company stock worth $5,406,382. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On McDonald’s

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in McDonald’s during the 3rd quarter worth $1,394,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in McDonald’s during the 4th quarter worth $1,628,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in McDonald’s by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,564,359 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,694,403,000 after acquiring an additional 49,106 shares in the last quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in McDonald’s by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 49,186 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $14,978,000 after acquiring an additional 2,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in McDonald’s during the 4th quarter worth $2,471,000. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About McDonald’s

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.