Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives $145.25 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $145.25.

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, September 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total value of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 101,629 shares of company stock worth $13,888,443. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of YUM. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 165.7% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the period. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $129.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $133.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.53 billion, a PE ratio of 23.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.62 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

About Yum! Brands

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.