Analysts Set Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Price Target at $156.70

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $156.70.

YUM has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $144.03 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $40.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $147.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $142.86.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. This trade represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 26,730 shares of company stock worth $4,061,323. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter worth $25,000. Finally, HFM Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $25,000. 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.