Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives $174.50 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $174.50.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, February 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $40,176.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,607.94. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $265,383.56. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock valued at $2,289,990 over the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 679.2% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 81.7% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $156.27 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.64. Yum! Brands has a one year low of $137.33 and a one year high of $169.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $159.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $152.69.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.05%.

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.