Brokerages Set Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Price Target at $145.25

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $145.25.

Several analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $150.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 16th.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 3.7 %

YUM stock opened at $138.07 on Friday. Yum! Brands has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.82 billion, a PE ratio of 24.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $133.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.38.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.41 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 5.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.52%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total value of $974,956.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at $21,947,485.44. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 6,961 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.02, for a total transaction of $912,030.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 162,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,275,158.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 101,629 shares of company stock valued at $13,888,443 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. 9258 Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $205,000. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $272,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 4,112 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $537,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 3,737 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $488,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 218,794 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $28,588,000 after acquiring an additional 9,323 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products.