Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $165.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price increased by Barclays from $162.00 to $165.00 in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

YUM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Loop Capital cut their target price 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. Bank of America cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price target (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.05.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $143.49 on Friday. Yum! Brands has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $144.71. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $133.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.34%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter worth about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased 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 during the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.