Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives $176.12 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $176.1176.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $169.75 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $153.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $156.45. Yum! Brands has a 1-year low of $137.33 and a 1-year high of $169.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.42, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.56.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,695.20. This represents a 48.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $962,680.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,925,521.26. This trade represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 12,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,721 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Econ Financial Services Corp raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 15,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,416,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $498,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 64 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 2,525 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.