Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Stock Has Average Price Target of $171.78

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $175.67.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Gordon Haskett lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $182.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 4th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of YUM opened at $160.18 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $134.26 and a 52 week high of $170.14. The company has a market capitalization of $42.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.10, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $147.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.64.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The restaurant operator reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 25.54% and a net margin of 39.14%. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.58 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 6.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 24.08%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.64, for a total transaction of $41,175.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 482 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $74,054.48. This represents a 35.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total value of $552,052.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 3 shares in the company, valued at $474. This trade represents a 99.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter, insiders sold 4,288 shares of company stock worth $666,149. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,186,811,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1,373.2% in the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,631,940 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $740,462,000 after acquiring an additional 4,317,526 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth $638,589,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth $297,591,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth $279,432,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc. is a global restaurant company that operates and franchises quick-service restaurants under the KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Habit Burger & Grill brands. Its restaurants serve customers through dine-in, takeout, delivery and digital ordering channels. The company’s brands offer a range of products, including KFC’s chicken meals, Taco Bell’s Mexican-inspired food, Pizza Hut’s pizzas and related items, and Habit Burger & Grill’s chargrilled burgers and sandwiches. Yum! Brands’ business relies heavily on franchised restaurants, alongside locations it operates directly.