JPMorgan Chase & Co. Raises Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target to $170.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $160.00 to $170.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 2.83% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on YUM. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 target price on Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, November 17th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $177.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.50.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.4%

YUM stock opened at $165.32 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $156.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.73. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $169.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The firm had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.61 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total transaction of $265,383.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total transaction of $1,937,280.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares in the company, valued at $2,365,096. This trade represents a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 13,888 shares of company stock valued at $2,244,938 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 679.2% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 187 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 81.7% during the third quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 198 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.