Q3 EPS Estimates for Yum! Brands Boosted by Zacks Research

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) - Analysts at Zacks Research increased their Q3 2025 earnings estimates for shares of Yum! Brands in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, May 14th. Zacks Research analyst H. Ray now forecasts that the restaurant operator will post earnings of $1.50 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $1.46. The consensus estimate for Yum! Brands' current full-year earnings is $5.94 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Yum! Brands' Q4 2025 earnings at $1.74 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $1.53 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $1.55 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $2.18 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on YUM. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $185.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $156.70.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.5%

YUM stock opened at $147.74 on Monday. Yum! Brands has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $149.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $142.05. The stock has a market cap of $41.07 billion, a PE ratio of 28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.15 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 2,236 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 34.1% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 10,623 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,425,000 after acquiring an additional 2,701 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,331 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,520,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $108,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 148,064 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $19,864,000 after acquiring an additional 12,814 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. The trade was a 29.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 62,334 shares of company stock worth $9,734,737 in the last 90 days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.57%.

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.

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