Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $176.1667.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Yum! Brands from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price target on Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, April 30th.

Key Headlines Impacting Yum! Brands

Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Yum Brands is weighing an exit from Pizza Hut are boosting the stock on hopes that divesting the weaker pizza chain could sharpen execution and improve margins. Pizza Hut’s future in doubt as Yum Brands weighs exit and surprise company eyes takeover
• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer also argued that “a Yum free of Pizza Hut” could trade higher, reinforcing the market’s view that a possible sale would be a value-creating move for YUM. Jim Cramer Believes “A Yum Free of Pizza Hut Is a Yum That’s Going to Trade Much Higher”
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary raised Yum’s fair value estimate and cited stronger KFC and Taco Bell fundamentals, suggesting the stock may still have upside if the Pizza Hut situation is resolved favorably. How The Investment Story Is Shifting For Yum Brands (YUM) After New Targets And Pizza Hut Talks
• Neutral Sentiment: Yum announced that COO and Chief People Officer Tracy Skeans will retire after 25 years, a leadership change that adds some succession-planning focus but is not clearly a major business setback. Yum Brands COO Tracy Skeans stepping down after 25 years with the company
• Neutral Sentiment: Separate coverage repeated the retirement news, keeping the focus on management transition rather than a change in near-term operating results. Yum Brands COO and chief people officer to retire after 25 years with the company

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 261 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $38,664.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $71,551.62. This represents a 35.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 270 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.14, for a total value of $39,997.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 64,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,522,735.48. This represents a 0.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 5,895 shares of company stock valued at $906,499 in the last 90 days. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,242,558 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,356,869,000 after acquiring an additional 684,946 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,938,139,000 after acquiring an additional 3,240,190 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,164,814 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,991,573,000 after acquiring an additional 124,720 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,800,382 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,334,427,000 after acquiring an additional 121,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $706,799,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.8%

YUM stock opened at $150.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $41.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.32, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $155.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.60. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $137.33 and a 52 week high of $169.39.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 48.39%.

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.