Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.67

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 22nd,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.67 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd.

Yum! Brands has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.8% annually over the last three years. Yum! Brands has a payout ratio of 44.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Yum! Brands to earn $6.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.5%.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of YUM stock traded up $1.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $135.35. 582,067 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,934,284. The company has a market cap of $37.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $123.70 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $134.42 and its 200-day moving average is $134.50.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business 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%. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.94.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at $20,518,588.62. This trade represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965 in the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.