Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Lowered to $180.00 at TD Cowen

Key Points

• TD Cowen lowered its price target on Yum! Brands to $180 from $186, while keeping a buy rating. The new target still implies about 16.4% upside from the current share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains generally positive, with 12 buy ratings and 8 hold ratings on the stock. MarketBeat says the consensus view is Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $175.89.
• Yum! Brands recently reported strong quarterly results, including EPS of $1.50 versus estimates of $1.39 and revenue of $2.06 billion, up 15.2% year over year. Shares were down slightly, opening at $154.65 on Wednesday.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by equities research analysts at TD Cowen from $186.00 to $180.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the restaurant operator's stock. TD Cowen's price target points to a potential upside of 16.39% from the stock's current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and issued a $168.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered Yum! Brands from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Barclays set a $185.00 price target on Yum! Brands and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $175.89.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of YUM opened at $154.65 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $137.33 and a 52-week high of $169.39. The company has a market capitalization of $42.62 billion, a PE ratio of 24.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $156.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $155.65.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The restaurant operator reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.11. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 23.51% and a net margin of 20.48%.The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.30 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sean Tresvant sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.68, for a total transaction of $464,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 3,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $485,695.20. This represents a 48.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Christopher Lee Turner sold 250 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.48, for a total value of $40,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 64,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,359,304.96. The trade was a 0.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 5,890 shares of company stock worth $915,163. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Steph & Co. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 107.5% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 166 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Wiser Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company's stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.

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