Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at Sanford C. Bernstein

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) was upgraded by analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Oppenheimer cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $165.00 to $180.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, November 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $169.15.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE YUM opened at $150.47 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $149.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $147.83. The firm has a market cap of $41.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.67.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.79% and a net margin of 17.95%.The company had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 2,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.48, for a total transaction of $419,839.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 26,650 shares in the company, valued at $4,010,292. This represents a 9.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total value of $189,550.53. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,559.68. The trade was a 95.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,695 shares of company stock valued at $4,582,843. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,055,000 after acquiring an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 7,058 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,111,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 148.9% in the 1st quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 4,612 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,759 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 34,261 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $5,391,000 after purchasing an additional 2,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 810.1% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 38,290 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,025,000 after buying an additional 34,083 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.