Wells Fargo & Company Increases Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target to $160.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price lifted by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $145.00 to $160.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 0.12% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also commented on YUM. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $176.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.65.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $159.81 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.21. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $161.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.61, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,419 shares of company stock valued at $6,196,298 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YUM. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $418,692,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $475,714,000 after acquiring an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $252,272,000 after acquiring an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,289,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,944,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.