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

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $176.1176.

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $174.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 277 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $44,452.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,511.84. This represents a 36.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing 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 Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total value of $464,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $485,695.20. This represents a 48.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 12,423 shares of company stock worth $1,953,721 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $706,799,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 19,419,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,938,139,000 after purchasing an additional 3,240,190 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at $272,794,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 42.2% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,183,964 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $632,950,000 after buying an additional 1,240,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $168,604,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $161.46 on Thursday. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $153.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.29. The stock has a market cap of $44.50 billion, a PE ratio of 26.04, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.56.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.