Q1 EPS Estimates for Yum! Brands Raised by Zacks Research

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) – Zacks Research boosted their Q1 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Yum! Brands in a report released on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research analyst Team now anticipates that the restaurant operator will earn $1.37 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $1.34. The consensus estimate for Yum! Brands’ current full-year earnings is $5.94 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Yum! Brands’ Q2 2026 earnings at $1.58 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.65 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $2.00 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $6.60 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $1.42 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $1.65 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $1.83 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $2.31 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $7.20 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $7.96 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on YUM. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, December 5th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $174.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $163.45 on Friday. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $165.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $155.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.04. The firm has a market cap of $45.38 billion, a PE ratio of 29.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 695,059 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $105,649,000 after acquiring an additional 8,888 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 115.8% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $197,013,000 after purchasing an additional 703,891 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 19.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 347,395 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $52,804,000 after purchasing an additional 57,112 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 34.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $413,382,000 after purchasing an additional 713,167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 126.1% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 29,192 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,326,000 after purchasing an additional 16,282 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total value of $265,383.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,365,096. This trade represents a 45.03% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,888 shares of company stock worth $2,244,938. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 51.17%.

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.