Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Receives “Equal Weight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $140.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $158.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Cowen reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Redburn Atlantic lowered Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 target price (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.47.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $125.64 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $133.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of YUM. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5,077.1% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 182,130 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $25,445,000 after purchasing an additional 178,612 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $20,708,000 after buying an additional 147,180 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,038,775,000 after buying an additional 111,147 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after buying an additional 104,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 140.1% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $16,763,000 after acquiring an additional 73,844 shares during the period. 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.