Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $160.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective raised by Oppenheimer from $154.00 to $160.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

YUM has been the topic of several other reports. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $146.78.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $127.72 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $124.76 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $135.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.90. The stock has a market cap of $35.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.10%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 17,879 shares of company stock valued at $2,424,167. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5,077.1% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 182,130 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $25,445,000 after purchasing an additional 178,612 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,708,000 after acquiring an additional 147,180 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.1% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $16,763,000 after purchasing an additional 73,844 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.