Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Hits New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday after Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on the stock from $174.00 to $165.00. Robert W. Baird currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Yum! Brands traded as low as $136.89 and last traded at $137.5780, with a volume of 320025 shares. The stock had previously closed at $137.96.

YUM has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.67.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,521.26. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $39,972.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 63,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,766,528.65. The trade was a 0.41% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 18,780 shares of company stock valued at $2,940,693. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harrell Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,235 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp increased its position in Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 15,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,416,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,009,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 44.6% in the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 227 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgewater Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.5% in the first quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 2,108 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $311,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $150.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $154.38. The firm has a market cap of $37.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Analysts expect that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 6.51 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 18th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.74%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises quick-service restaurants. Its portfolio includes KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and The Habit Burger Grill, which offer products such as fried and grilled chicken, tacos and other Mexican-inspired foods, pizza, burgers and related menu items.

The company’s restaurants serve customers through a combination of company-operated locations and franchised and licensed outlets. Yum! Brands supports its restaurant concepts with brand management, franchise services, technology and digital ordering capabilities, while franchisees generally manage day-to-day restaurant operations.

Yum! Brands serves customers in numerous markets worldwide, with a significant presence in the United States and international markets across regions including Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.