TD Cowen Reiterates Buy Rating for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at TD Cowen in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $180.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. TD Cowen’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.70% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.12.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 2.4%

NYSE YUM traded up $3.65 on Tuesday, hitting $158.32. 641,558 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,895,772. The company has a market capitalization of $43.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $154.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $155.71. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39.

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

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total transaction of $44,452.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,511.84. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $531,544. This trade represents a 34.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,895 shares of company stock worth $906,499. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Econ Financial Services Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 15,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $497,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 2,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Yum! Brands reached definitive agreements to sell Pizza Hut, with LongRange Capital buying most operations outside Mainland China and Yum China taking the China business, simplifying the company’s portfolio and sharpening its focus on core brands. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Management also approved an incremental $4 billion buyback authorization, which should support earnings per share and signals confidence in the company’s cash generation. RTT News article
• Neutral Sentiment: Separate reports noted KFC is rolling out a global brand refresh with new menu items, drinks, and updated store designs, which may help growth longer term but is not a direct near-term catalyst for YUM shares. CNBC article
• Negative Sentiment: The Pizza Hut sale also underscores how the chain has lagged rivals amid softer consumer demand, rising costs, and market-share pressure from competitors such as Domino’s, highlighting the challenges YUM is exiting. CNBC article

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.