Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $166.08 and last traded at $164.9630, with a volume of 158458 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $163.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on YUM. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $179.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.6%

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $156.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $150.29. The company has a market capitalization of $46.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 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 net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.61 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.05%.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total value of $265,383.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 13,888 shares of company stock worth $2,244,938. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $706,799,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,938,139,000 after buying an additional 3,240,190 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $272,794,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 42.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,183,964 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $632,950,000 after buying an additional 1,240,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $168,604,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.