Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives $145.94 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $146.44.

YUM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 17,879 shares of company stock valued at $2,424,167 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of YUM. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 649.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 352,400 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,234,000 after acquiring an additional 10,526 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 130,858 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,620,000 after acquiring an additional 14,032 shares during the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1,199.8% in the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 22,877 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $3,195,000 after purchasing an additional 21,117 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 39,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,490,000 after purchasing an additional 3,721 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.4 %

YUM stock opened at $133.56 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $135.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.10. Yum! Brands has a 12 month low of $124.76 and a 12 month high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $37.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.