Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $150.95.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at $470,329.20. The trade was a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,654 shares of company stock valued at $7,659,176. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,664 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $357,000 after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. OLD Point Trust & Financial Services N A now owns 15,357 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,060,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 6,605 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $886,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 3,231 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $433,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 1,575 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $153.50 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $42.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.41, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $140.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.91.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.85%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.