Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Rating Increased to Hold at Gordon Haskett

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) was upgraded by equities researchers at Gordon Haskett to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $166.29.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE YUM opened at $148.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $41.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The business’s fifty day moving average is $146.49 and its 200 day moving average is $146.25.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company had revenue of $1.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.81, for a total value of $261,161.55. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 32,112 shares of company stock valued at $4,760,814 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,356,869,000 after buying an additional 684,946 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,131,263 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,945,791,000 after acquiring an additional 297,641 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,216,042 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,217,826,000 after acquiring an additional 218,046 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $602,551,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,844,806 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $569,723,000 after purchasing an additional 40,757 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.