Brokerages Set Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) PT at $145.25

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $144.56.

Several analysts have commented on YUM shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 22nd. TD Cowen lowered Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 68 shares in the company, valued at $9,326.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,326.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,414.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 101,673 shares of company stock worth $13,918,095. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Trust Point Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $227,000. Claro Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.6% during the third quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 9,921 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after acquiring an additional 787 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 5.8% in the third quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 8,491 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 8.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 34,152 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,771,000 after buying an additional 2,695 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $133.73 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.66 billion, a PE ratio of 23.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $118.28 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $135.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.26.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.90% and a net margin of 21.96%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.41 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.52%.

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.