Q3 EPS Estimates for Yum! Brands Boosted by Zacks Research

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) – Equities researchers at Zacks Research lifted their Q3 2025 earnings estimates for Yum! Brands in a research report issued on Wednesday, May 14th. Zacks Research analyst H. Ray now expects that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $1.50 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $1.46. The consensus estimate for Yum! Brands’ current full-year earnings is $5.94 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Yum! Brands’ Q4 2025 earnings at $1.74 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.53 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.55 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $2.18 EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $147.74 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $142.05. Yum! Brands has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 2,236 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 34.1% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 10,623 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 2,701 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,331 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $108,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 148,064 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $19,864,000 after acquiring an additional 12,814 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

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.