Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $151.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective lifted by TD Securities from $140.00 to $151.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a hold rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

YUM has been the subject of several other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.37.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $143.49 on Friday. Yum! Brands has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $144.71. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $132.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.88. The company has a market cap of $40.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.34%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,289,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 140.3% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 437,625 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $58,712,000 after purchasing an additional 255,495 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,098,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $20,708,000 after purchasing an additional 147,180 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.