Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty-four analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $161.3182.

YUM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective (down from $167.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Melius initiated coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, July 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total value of $41,962.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $267,795.45. This represents a 13.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,413,371.40. The trade was a 6.52% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 36,195 shares of company stock worth $5,348,137 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.6% during the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.7% during the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $165,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.8% during the first quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,444,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $150.61 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $147.05 and its 200-day moving average is $147.21. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.35 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.02%.

About Yum! Brands

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.