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

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the twenty-two ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $156.70.

YUM has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective 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. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $185.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total transaction of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 3.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $315,996,000 after buying an additional 94,026 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $252,272,000 after acquiring an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. DJE Kapital AG acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,306,000. Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $14,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $225,025,000 after buying an additional 44,428 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock traded down $2.61 during trading on Friday, reaching $146.53. 2,308,478 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,012,019. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.09. The company has a market capitalization of $40.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's dividend payout ratio 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.