Wedbush Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) Stock

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at Wedbush from $320.00 to $330.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the fast-food giant’s stock. Wedbush’s price target 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.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MCD. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $297.00 to $290.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $336.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Baird R W cut shares of McDonald’s from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of McDonald’s from $350.00 to $342.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, McDonald’s has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.61.

McDonald’s Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of MCD stock opened at $307.47 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $220.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.99, a PEG ratio of 4.08 and a beta of 0.74. McDonald’s has a 52 week low of $243.53 and a 52 week high of $317.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $291.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $291.97.

McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The fast-food giant reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.83. McDonald’s had a net margin of 31.79% and a negative return on equity of 175.42%. On average, analysts anticipate that McDonald’s will post 11.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other McDonald’s news, insider Joseph M. Erlinger sold 300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.75, for a total value of $84,225.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 7,887 shares in the company, valued at $2,214,275.25. This represents a 3.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Marion K. Gross sold 1,499 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $290.95, for a total transaction of $436,134.05. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $453,882. This represents a 49.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,406 shares of company stock worth $2,150,857 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McDonald’s

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,169,342 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $20,341,391,000 after purchasing an additional 526,466 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,074,438 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $4,652,768,000 after purchasing an additional 157,458 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of McDonald’s by 0.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 15,082,894 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $4,592,892,000 after purchasing an additional 128,800 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of McDonald’s during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,725,190,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in McDonald’s by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,803,833 shares of the fast-food giant’s stock valued at $1,682,473,000 after acquiring an additional 52,195 shares during the last quarter. 70.29% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.