JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target to $132.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $134.00 to $132.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Argus restated a hold rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a hold rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $143.53.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $136.19 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $38.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s 50 day moving average is $138.14 and its 200 day moving average is $131.80. Yum! Brands has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.06 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,419,025.43. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Paget Leonard Alves sold 6,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.19, for a total value of $859,222.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 30,373 shares of company stock worth $4,087,920 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $331,831,000. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Yum! Brands by 121.8% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,819,809 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $227,367,000 after acquiring an additional 999,443 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,914,257,000 after acquiring an additional 678,659 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the fourth quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,254,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $163,906,000 after buying an additional 649,922 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 1,592,259 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $208,045,000 after acquiring an additional 570,263 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Yum! Brands

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.