Jennison Associates LLC Raises Stock Position in McDonald’s Corporation $MCD

Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) by 46.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 217,233 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock after purchasing an additional 69,088 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in McDonald’s were worth $67,514,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of McDonald’s during the fourth quarter worth about $2,890,438,000. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 30,979.0% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,596,340 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $806,917,000 after buying an additional 2,587,986 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in McDonald’s by 9,867.5% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 2,541,008 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $776,608,000 after buying an additional 2,515,515 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP increased its stake in McDonald’s by 171.7% during the 2nd quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 3,125,432 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $913,157,000 after buying an additional 1,974,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in McDonald’s by 49.9% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,104,337 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock worth $948,779,000 after buying an additional 1,033,041 shares in the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting McDonald’s

Here are the key news stories impacting McDonald’s this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Tigress Financial raised its price target on McDonald’s to $390 from $385 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling confidence that the stock has meaningful upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage and commentary continue to highlight McDonald’s value offerings, loyalty efforts, localized marketing, and menu innovation as ways the company can support customer traffic and defend sales trends.
• Neutral Sentiment: McDonald’s is expected to report second-quarter earnings next month, with consensus calling for modest single-digit profit growth, keeping investor focus on whether traffic and margins improve.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent product news, including the new Caesar sauce and other menu rollouts, is generating consumer interest, but the items appear more promotional than clearly material to near-term earnings.
• Negative Sentiment: Articles questioning why McDonald’s stock is at nearly two-year lows and noting a 10.1% decline over the past six months versus a rising S&P 500 suggest investors are worried about relative underperformance and slowing momentum.
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary describing a “McProblem” that is not getting better points to continuing concerns about business execution, customer traffic, or overall sentiment toward the stock.
• Negative Sentiment: One recent piece also urged investors to stay skeptical, indicating that while the stock may look attractive to some value investors, there are still fundamental questions weighing on shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MCD shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn upgraded McDonald’s from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $260.00 to $306.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on McDonald’s in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $325.00 price objective on McDonald’s in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $375.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $385.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $336.32.

McDonald’s Stock Performance

NYSE:MCD opened at $267.74 on Monday. McDonald’s Corporation has a one year low of $264.09 and a one year high of $341.75. The stock has a market cap of $190.23 billion, a PE ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $277.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $300.28.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $6.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.47 billion. McDonald’s had a negative return on equity of 442.10% and a net margin of 31.62%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.67 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that McDonald’s Corporation will post 12.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

McDonald’s Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $1.86 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. This represents a $7.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. McDonald’s’s payout ratio is presently 61.34%.

Insider Activity

In other McDonald’s news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 5,252 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.32, for a total transaction of $1,493,248.64. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 7,734 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,198,930.88. The trade was a 40.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Desiree Ralls-Morrison sold 2,763 shares of McDonald’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.36, for a total transaction of $769,108.68. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,268 shares in the company, valued at $1,744,760.48. This trade represents a 30.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,681 shares of company stock worth $2,456,440. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

McDonald’s Company Profile

McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is a global quick-service restaurant company best known for its hamburgers, French fries and breakfast offerings. The company develops, operates and franchises a system of restaurants that sell a range of food and beverage items, including signature products such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, McCafé coffee beverages and a variety of salads, desserts and seasonal menu items. McDonald’s serves customers through company-operated restaurants and franchised locations, and it supports sales via dine-in, drive-thru, digital ordering platforms and third-party delivery partnerships.

Founded in 1940 by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald as a single San Bernardino, California restaurant, the business was transformed into a franchising model after Ray Kroc joined in the mid-1950s and led the brand’s national and international expansion.