Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $145.00.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on YUM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $135.52 on Monday. Yum! Brands has a one year low of $115.53 and a one year high of $143.20. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $132.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.52%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at $21,275,158.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares in the company, valued at $21,275,158.62. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,061 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.43, for a total value of $963,332.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 165,630 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,596,900.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,685 shares of company stock worth $13,910,094 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 79.8% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 165.7% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.6% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.