Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $176.1176.

YUM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $186.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $485,695.20. The trade was a 48.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 261 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total transaction of $38,664.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,551.62. This trade represents a 35.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 124.5% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 151,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $22,422,000 after purchasing an additional 83,916 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 117,824 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,447,000 after purchasing an additional 10,755 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 130,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $19,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $344,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $153.20 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day moving average is $154.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $155.68. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 48.39%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.