Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Lowered to Hold Rating by Redburn Atlantic

Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on YUM. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $136.74 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $38.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.56, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $123.70 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $134.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $134.64.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 5.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $169,414.20. The trade was a 51.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 155,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,955,351.69. This trade represents a 4.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 15,319 shares of company stock valued at $2,063,221. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at about $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 43.6% in the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3,088.9% in the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.