Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives $174.50 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-one analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $174.50.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.02, for a total transaction of $40,176.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 65,297 shares in the company, valued at $10,840,607.94. The trade was a 0.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 14,138 shares of company stock worth $2,289,990 in the last quarter. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Steph & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 107.5% in the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 86 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 679.2% in the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Community Bank N.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $161.78 on Friday. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $137.33 and a 1 year high of $169.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $160.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $153.85. The company has a market cap of $44.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.15, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The business’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.61 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

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

About Yum! Brands

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.