Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and thirteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $174.50.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $179.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Barclays set a $185.00 target price on Yum! Brands and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.4%

YUM stock opened at $154.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.78. The company has a market capitalization of $42.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.75, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.64. Yum! Brands has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.98% and a negative return on equity of 22.42%. The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 20th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 20th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total value of $40,176.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,840,607.94. This trade represents a 0.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 284 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $47,149.68. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. World Investment Advisors boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 26.6% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 4,629 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 974 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 171,060 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,885,000 after buying an additional 10,945 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 569,676 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $86,197,000 after buying an additional 31,836 shares during the period. Bank of Hawaii lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 1,829 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reflection Asset Management bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.