Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Cut to $162.00 by Analysts at Citigroup

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective decreased by investment analysts at Citigroup from $166.00 to $162.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 15.96% from the stock’s current price.

YUM has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays decreased their target price on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Ten 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.75.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of YUM stock traded up $0.64 on Tuesday, reaching $139.70. 406,074 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,914,305. Yum! Brands has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.24. The company has a market capitalization of $39.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.99, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $137.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $130.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 59.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 531,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $69,596,000 after acquiring an additional 198,069 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 112,905 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,752,000 after acquiring an additional 16,124 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,689 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $381,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 11,541.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 141,678 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $18,512,000 after purchasing an additional 140,461 shares in the last quarter. 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.