UBS Group Issues Positive Forecast for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Stock Price

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective lifted by UBS Group from $156.00 to $165.00 in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

YUM has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 target price (down previously from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $143.49 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $132.37 and a 200 day moving average of $133.88. The company has a market capitalization of $40.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $144.71.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 57,276 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,002,000 after buying an additional 3,609 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 17.0% during the third quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 3,774 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $1,865,000. Finally, Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth about $219,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.