Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.75 Per Share

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, March 6th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. This is a 5.6% increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71.

Yum! Brands has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 8 years. Yum! Brands has a payout ratio of 42.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Yum! Brands to earn $6.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.8%.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE YUM traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $159.22. 4,062,370 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,236,155. The firm has a market cap of $44.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.04, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a 50 day moving average of $152.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $148.84. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $129.55 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 17.95% and a negative return on equity of 21.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.61 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, December 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday. Finally, Gordon Haskett upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.05.

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.