Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Stock Price Expected to Rise, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Analyst Says

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price hoisted by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $138.00 to $160.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 2.08% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on YUM. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 target price (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut 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 upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.79.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $156.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.03, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $143.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.82. Yum! Brands has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total transaction of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total value of $816,392.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,353,416.32. This represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after acquiring an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 15.5% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $17,805,000 after buying an additional 17,133 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $14,825,000 after buying an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DJE Kapital AG acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $3,306,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.