Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Yum! Brands has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 19 analysts, with 12 buys and 7 holds. The average 12-month price target is about $176.12.
• The company recently reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue expectations, with earnings of $1.50 per share versus $1.39 expected and revenue of $2.06 billion. Revenue also rose 15.2% from a year earlier.
• Yum! Brands' board approved a $4 billion share buyback program, and the company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share, equal to a 1.9% annualized yield.

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the nineteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $176.1176.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued a "market perform" rating and set a $168.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, May 4th. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $177.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 1,837 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.00, for a total transaction of $279,224.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3,497 shares of the company's stock, valued at $531,544. This represents a 34.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.42, for a total value of $40,105.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,032 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,272,013.44. This represents a 0.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 12,423 shares of company stock valued at $1,953,721 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Steph & Co. increased its position in Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Community Bank N.A. bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $161.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.04, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.56. Yum! Brands has a twelve month low of $137.33 and a twelve month high of $169.39. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $153.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $156.29.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.51%. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. Yum! Brands's quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 6.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 16th that allows the company to repurchase $4.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the restaurant operator to purchase up to 9.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 27th were paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 27th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 48.39%.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc NYSE: YUM is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company's principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company's operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.