Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $155.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $150.00 to $155.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Melius began coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.29.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.8%

Yum! Brands stock opened at $148.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.31 billion, a PE ratio of 29.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $146.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.25.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,112 shares of company stock valued at $4,760,814. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Syon Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 7,036 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,070,000 after buying an additional 1,023 shares during the period. First National Bank of Omaha purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $617,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.1% in the third quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 4,204 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $639,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 45.5% during the third quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 36,363 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 11,376 shares during the period. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 13,991 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,127,000 after buying an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.