Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $162.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price target increased by TD Cowen from $156.00 to $162.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

YUM has been the topic of a number of other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price target on Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $166.29.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.8%

YUM stock opened at $148.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $41.31 billion, a PE ratio of 29.36, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.73. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.25.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total transaction of $189,550.53. Following the transaction, the insider owned 64 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,559.68. The trade was a 95.20% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 32,112 shares of company stock worth $4,760,814. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 256,961 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,435,000 after acquiring an additional 3,172 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth $1,172,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 11.5% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 498,597 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $78,459,000 after purchasing an additional 51,419 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 741.1% during the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $968,000 after purchasing an additional 5,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signal Advisors Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $304,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.