Weiss Ratings Reaffirms "Buy (B)" Rating for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)

Key Points

• Weiss Ratings has reaffirmed a "Buy (B)" rating for Yum! Brands, reflecting ongoing confidence in the company's potential for growth.
• Multiple research firms have lowered their price targets for Yum! Brands, with Wells Fargo cutting it from $160 to $155, indicating mixed sentiment among analysts.
• Yum! Brands reported a quarterly EPS of $1.44, slightly missing the expected $1.46, but still showing a revenue increase of 9.6% year-over-year.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy (b)" rating reissued by equities researchers at Weiss Ratings in a report issued on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on YUM. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $167.00 price objective (up previously from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $161.32.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM stock traded down $0.80 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $145.92. The company had a trading volume of 402,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,092,524. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The company has a market capitalization of $40.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $147.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $147.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The company had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. Yum! Brands's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total transaction of $1,074,964.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,413,371.40. This represents a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value of $296,121.40. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,195 shares of company stock valued at $5,348,137 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $189,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.7% in the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $284,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 78.0% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 162 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 7.3% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 0.8% during the first quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,178 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,444,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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