Morgan Stanley Reaffirms Equal Weight Rating for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)

Morgan Stanley restated their equal weight rating on shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUMFree Report) in a report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $140.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their previous target price of $158.00.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on YUM. 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. Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Bank of America lowered their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.47.

Read Our Latest Report on YUM

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.3 %

YUM opened at $125.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $35.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $133.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $133.63. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUMGet Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, 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 this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the period. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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