Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Upgraded at TD Cowen

TD Cowen upgraded shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. TD Cowen currently has $173.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $162.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.38.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock opened at $148.23 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.30. The stock has a market cap of $41.16 billion, a PE ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total value of $3,627,901.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 2,790 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total value of $419,839.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,650 shares in the company, valued at $4,010,292. This trade represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 37,870 shares of company stock valued at $5,657,495 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 498,597 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $78,459,000 after buying an additional 51,419 shares during the last quarter. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at $304,000. Verus Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at $288,000. Jump Financial LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 458.8% in the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 30,780 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,844,000 after acquiring an additional 25,272 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 49,887 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $7,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,047 shares in the last quarter. 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.