Rafferty Asset Management LLC Acquires 7,709 Shares of McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in McDonald’s Co. (NYSE:MCD) by 13.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 65,785 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after buying an additional 7,709 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $19,070,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mattern Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 30,110 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $8,729,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Bell Bank increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Bell Bank now owns 12,699 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $3,681,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in McDonald’s in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,628,000. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Integral Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 6,512 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $1,888,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in McDonald’s by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 178,049 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $51,615,000 after acquiring an additional 6,083 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on MCD. Truist Financial set a $350.00 target price on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Friday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $345.00 target price (up from $340.00) on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Monday, May 5th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $292.00 to $314.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. BTIG Research reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of McDonald’s in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $325.91.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,853,850. This represents a 7.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Tiffanie L. Boyd sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.27, for a total value of $309,270.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 5,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,720,778.28. This represents a 15.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,636 shares of company stock worth $5,420,722. 0.25% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

NYSE MCD opened at $314.04 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $224.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.57. McDonald’s Co. has a one year low of $243.53 and a one year high of $326.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $309.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $300.47.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.17 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 181.63% and a net margin of 31.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.70 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that McDonald’s Co. will post 12.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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, Spain, and the U.K.