Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Cut to $162.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $166.00 to $162.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on YUM. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Yum! Brands from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen restated a buy rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $144.75.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $141.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.36, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $137.98 and a 200 day moving average of $130.85.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The restaurant operator reported $1.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.39 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 17.76% and a net margin of 22.57%. The company’s revenue was up .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.31 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Bfsg LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.