Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the twenty-two analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $158.24.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Cowen reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Guggenheim raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE YUM opened at $138.98 on Friday. Yum! Brands has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $163.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $145.10 and a 200 day moving average of $143.35. The company has a market capitalization of $38.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.68, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.74.

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

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were issued a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total transaction of $39,119.96. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $23,162,903.10. This trade represents a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,470 shares of company stock valued at $1,821,172. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of YUM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $418,692,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $121,137,000 after purchasing an additional 764,637 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $97,453,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,109,219 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $5,367,427,000 after purchasing an additional 483,918 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.

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