Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nineteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $147.37.

YUM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.5% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 9,957 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 8.6% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 34,152 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,771,000 after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $227,000. Net Worth Advisory Group bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $269,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 23.1% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,561 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $147.80 on Monday. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $149.30. The stock has a market cap of $41.25 billion, a PE ratio of 28.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $133.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.53.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.41%.

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.