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

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $174.8125.

YUM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $175.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 20th.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $44,452.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 483 shares in the company, valued at $77,511.84. The trade was a 36.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Aaron Powell sold 6,001 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total transaction of $962,680.42. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,003 shares in the company, valued at $1,925,521.26. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 12,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,721. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Harrell Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the second quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 4,235 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $677,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Econ Financial Services Corp now owns 15,536 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,416,000 after buying an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $498,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $148.82 on Monday. Yum! Brands has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $170.14. The stock has a market cap of $41.02 billion, a PE ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $156.76.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 16th that permits the company to buyback $4.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 27th were given a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 48.39%.

About Yum! Brands

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.