Bank of America Lowers McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) Price Target to $322.00

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) had its price objective reduced by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $327.00 to $322.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the fast-food giant’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 7.58% from the company’s previous close.

MCD has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Northcoast Research cut McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Barclays increased their target price on McDonald’s from $347.00 to $355.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised McDonald’s from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $345.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on McDonald’s from $340.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Argus cut McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $319.72.

McDonald’s Price Performance

McDonald’s stock traded down $1.05 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $299.32. 449,900 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,515,647. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $302.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $302.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $214.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.53. McDonald’s has a 1 year low of $246.12 and a 1 year high of $326.32.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The fast-food giant reported $2.67 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 195.27% and a net margin of 31.75%. The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that McDonald’s will post 12.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at McDonald’s

In other news, CMO Edith Morgan Flatley sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.00, for a total transaction of $300,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 8,858 shares in the company, valued at $2,657,400. This trade represents a 10.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 939 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.52, for a total value of $270,920.28. Following the transaction, the insider owned 10,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,949,251.44. This represents a 8.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,817 shares of company stock valued at $1,165,843. Company insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MCD. Norges Bank purchased a new position in McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at $2,725,190,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in McDonald’s in the first quarter valued at $1,324,961,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in McDonald’s by 39,039.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,497,919 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,092,645,000 after buying an additional 3,488,982 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in McDonald’s by 16.8% in the first 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 buying an additional 1,344,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in McDonald’s in the fourth quarter valued at $350,935,000. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.