Seaport Research Partners Upgrades Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) to “Strong-Buy”

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Seaport Research Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

YUM has been the topic of several other reports. Weiss Ratings cut Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $165.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upgraded Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $174.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, July 31st. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.67.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $138.12 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $170.14. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $150.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $154.38. The company has a market capitalization of $37.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $962,680.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,925,521.26. The trade was a 33.33% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.64, for a total transaction of $41,175.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $74,054.48. The trade was a 35.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 18,780 shares of company stock valued at $2,940,693 over the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 569,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $86,197,000 after purchasing an additional 31,836 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth $1,589,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 19.8% during the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 103,807 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,140,000 after purchasing an additional 17,189 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 114.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 53,189 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $8,503,000 after purchasing an additional 28,380 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,800,382 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,334,427,000 after buying an additional 121,304 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.