JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target to $150.00

Posted by George Bondi on Oct 2nd, 2026

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM – Free Report) had its price target decreased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $160.00 to $150.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Seaport Research Partners started coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $162.00 target price for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Yum! Brands from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.11.

View Our Latest Stock Report on Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of YUM stock opened at $136.66 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands has a twelve month low of $134.26 and a twelve month high of $170.14. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $152.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.55.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.04. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 24.57% and a net margin of 25.42%.The firm had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 6.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 9th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 37.74%.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.64, for a total transaction of $41,175.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $74,054.48. This trade represents a 35.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 261 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.15, for a total value of $39,972.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 63,771 shares in the company, valued at $9,766,528.65. This represents a 0.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 12,493 shares of company stock valued at $1,926,462 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,186,811,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in Yum! Brands by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,938,139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,240,190 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1,373.2% during the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,631,940 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $740,462,000 after acquiring an additional 4,317,526 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth $638,589,000. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its position in Yum! Brands by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,055,883 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $311,014,000 after purchasing an additional 15,649 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

About Yum! Brands

(Get Free Report)

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that develops, operates, and franchises quick-service restaurants. Its portfolio includes KFC, which specializes in fried and cooked chicken; Taco Bell, known for Mexican-inspired food; Pizza Hut, which offers pizza and related products; and The Habit Burger Grill, a fast-casual chain focused on chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, salads, and shakes.

The company primarily uses a franchised business model, working with franchisees and licensees to operate restaurants in more than 150 countries and territories.