Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) was downgraded by Nomura from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $89.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock. Nomura’s price target points to a potential upside of 5.21% from the company’s previous close.
A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Zacks Investment Research raised Yum! Brands from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, October 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $77.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 3rd. Edward Jones raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Mizuho set a $74.00 price target on Yum! Brands and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 1st. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.68.
Shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) traded down $1.89 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $84.59. The stock had a trading volume of 1,780,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,540,000. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of -1.55, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $28,510.00, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.47, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.91. Yum! Brands has a 12-month low of $62.85 and a 12-month high of $86.93.
Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Friday, November 17th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.
In other news, CFO David W. Gibbs sold 4,318 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.56, for a total value of $347,858.08. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 39,396 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,173,741.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian R. Niccol sold 3,588 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.90, for a total value of $286,681.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,075 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,204,492.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,231 shares of company stock worth $997,604. Corporate insiders own 0.65% of the company’s stock.
Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,910,196 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $582,270,000 after buying an additional 1,220,537 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,086,000. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 440.0% in the 2nd quarter. Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP now owns 675,000 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $49,788,000 after buying an additional 550,000 shares during the period. Koch Industries Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at $509,000. Finally, Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 48.9% in the 3rd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 1,132,652 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $83,375,000 after buying an additional 371,768 shares during the period. 73.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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Yum! Brands Company Profile
YUM! Brands, Inc is engaged in restaurant business. As of December 31, 2016, the Company operated or franchised over 43,500 restaurants in more than 135 countries and territories operating under the KFC, Pizza Hut or Taco Bell (collectively the Concepts) brands. The Company operates through three segments: The KFC Division, which includes the operations of the KFC concept around the world; The Pizza Hut Division, which includes the operations of the Pizza Hut concept around the world, and The Taco Bell Division, which includes the operations of the Taco Bell concept around the world.
