Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Cut to $151.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Analysts at Morgan Stanley have reduced Yum! Brands' price target from $153.00 to $151.00 while maintaining an "equal weight" rating, suggesting a potential upside of 6.81% from its current price.
• The stock received mixed ratings from other firms, with Evercore ISI lowering their target price, while Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to a "buy" rating with a $167.00 target price.
• Yum! Brands reported Q2 earnings of $1.44 per share, missing estimates and resulting in a 9.6% year-over-year revenue increase to $1.93 billion.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) had its price objective decreased by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $151.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the restaurant operator's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price suggests a potential upside of 6.81% from the stock's current price.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on YUM. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $167.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $167.00 target price (up from $165.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday. 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. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $161.32.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE YUM traded up $1.87 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $141.37. The stock had a trading volume of 1,255,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,150,651. The firm has a market cap of $39.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.73. The business's fifty day moving average price is $145.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $146.65. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $1.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.80% and a net margin of 18.42%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.35 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $260,231.40. This represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,084,113.80. The trade was a 6.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 14,720 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,965. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Savant Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 15,988 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $2,369,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the period. OneAscent Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter worth about $311,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 37,991 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $5,630,000 after acquiring an additional 2,225 shares during the period. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter. Anchor Capital Advisors LLC now owns 280,546 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $41,571,000 after buying an additional 45,060 shares during the period. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 121,434 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $17,998,000 after buying an additional 9,340 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

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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