Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twenty-two analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $157.86.

Several analysts have issued reports on YUM shares. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Cowen restated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $23,162,903.10. This represents a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total value of $39,119.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,755 shares of the company's stock, valued at $256,177.35. This represents a 13.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 12,470 shares of company stock worth $1,821,172 in the last quarter. 0.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $187,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 72,830 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $9,771,000 after purchasing an additional 8,704 shares during the last quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,285 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, 44 Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. 44 Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,746 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $368,000 after purchasing an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM traded up $4.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $147.31. The stock had a trading volume of 3,738,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,004,755. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The business has a fifty day moving average of $144.96 and a 200 day moving average of $143.41. The company has a market cap of $40.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.74.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.42% and a negative return on equity of 20.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.15 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.57%.

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.