Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $150.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price lifted by Piper Sandler from $140.00 to $150.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $151.70.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $161.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $45.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.32.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This trade represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 12.0% during the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,153 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,698,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 86.6% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 4,032 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,871 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 15.9% in the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 1,821 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.9% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 55,799 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,777,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 51.5% in the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 9,414 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after buying an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.