Wedbush Issues Positive Forecast for McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) Stock Price

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) had its price target upped by equities researchers at Wedbush from $320.00 to $330.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the fast-food giant’s stock. Wedbush’s target price suggests a potential upside of 7.33% from the company’s previous close. Wedbush also issued estimates for McDonald’s’ Q2 2025 earnings at $3.12 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $3.39 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $12.37 EPS.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim cut shares of McDonald’s from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $290.00 to $285.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Robert W. Baird cut shares of McDonald’s from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $320.00 to $290.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $342.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $336.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, McDonald’s has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.61.

McDonald’s Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:MCD opened at $307.47 on Tuesday. McDonald’s has a 52 week low of $243.53 and a 52 week high of $317.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $291.33 and a 200 day moving average of $291.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $220.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.99, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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, analysts expect that McDonald’s will post 11.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 3,409 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.15, for a total value of $989,121.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 9,675 shares in the company, valued at $2,807,201.25. This trade represents a 26.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 1,099 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.50, for a total transaction of $321,457.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 9,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,155. This trade represents a 10.58 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,406 shares of company stock worth $2,150,857 over the last 90 days. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of McDonald’s

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MCD. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in McDonald’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,725,190,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in McDonald’s during the 4th quarter valued at about $703,074,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in McDonald’s by 31,151.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,319,142 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $706,202,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311,721 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in McDonald’s by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,054,387 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,175,326,000 after acquiring an additional 794,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in McDonald’s by 542.9% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 801,858 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $244,174,000 after acquiring an additional 677,139 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.29% of the company’s stock.

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, Russia, Spain, and the U.K.