Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $130.00 to $148.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a hold rating on the stock. Yum! Brands traded as high as $158.10 and last traded at $157.42, with a volume of 160430 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.37.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 price objective (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $148.32.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

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 value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,944,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $95,000. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $475,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,384 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $320,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares during the period. Finally, Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $412,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $136.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.73. The company has a market cap of $43.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is 54.41%.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.