Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $144.89.

YUM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $129.31 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $132.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $133.58. The stock has a market cap of $36.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.17, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.07%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 50.09%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 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.