Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $176.1176.

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $186.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $39,997.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,282 shares in the company, valued at $9,522,735.48. The trade was a 0.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing 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, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $485,695.20. The trade was a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 124.5% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 151,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $22,422,000 after acquiring an additional 83,916 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 117,824 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,447,000 after acquiring an additional 10,755 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 130,205 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $19,294,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares during the period. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 59.1% during the 2nd quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,319 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $154.23 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $154.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $155.67. The stock has a market cap of $42.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.88, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.57. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $137.33 and a fifty-two week high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 48.39%.

About Yum! Brands

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.