Yum! Brands (YUM) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. Yum! supports its system through marketing, product innovation, supply-chain management and investments in digital ordering, delivery partnerships and loyalty programs designed to enhance customer convenience and drive sales across its concepts.

Yum! Brands has a broad international footprint, serving customers across numerous markets worldwide while maintaining a substantial presence in the United States. In 2016 the company separated its mainland China operations into a distinct publicly traded company, Yum China, which owns and operates KFC and Pizza Hut businesses in mainland China; Yum! Brands continues to operate and franchise its brands outside of that jurisdiction. The company's multi-brand strategy allows it to tailor development and marketing approaches to diverse regional and consumer preferences.

Management emphasizes franchising-led growth, menu and digital innovation, and efficiency in its supply-chain and real-estate strategies to support expansion and profitability. Yum! Brands remains focused on scaling its core brands through a combination of company-operated restaurants, franchise partnerships and strategic initiatives intended to strengthen brand loyalty and adapt to evolving consumer trends in quick-service dining.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $151.45 to $154.57
• 50-Day Range: $144.69 to $167.61
• 52-Week Range: $137.33 to $170.14
• Volume: 1.55 million shs
• Average Volume: 2.56 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $42.05 billion
• P/E Ratio: 19.38
• Dividend Yield: 1.95%
• Price Target: $174.65
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Yum! Brands Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Yum! Brands scored higher than 94% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 80th out of 488 stocks in the consumer discretionary sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.4 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Yum! Brands has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.62, and is based on 1 strong buy rating, 12 buy ratings, 7 hold ratings, and 1 sell rating.

Upside Potential

Yum! Brands has a consensus price target of $174.65, representing about 13.3% upside from its current price of $154.08.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Yum! Brands has been the subject of 12 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 9.03%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Yum! Brands are expected to grow by 9.03% in the coming year, from $6.42 to $7.00 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Yum! Brands is 19.38, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 45.13.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Yum! Brands is 19.38, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Consumer Discretionary sector average P/E ratio of about 46.97.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Yum! Brands has a PEG Ratio of 2.50. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.17% of the float of Yum! Brands has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Yum! Brands has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.55, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Yum! Brands has recently increased by 14.23%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Yum! Brands pays a meaningful dividend of 1.95%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Yum! Brands has been increasing its dividend for 8 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Yum! Brands is 37.74%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Yum! Brands will have a dividend payout ratio of 42.86% next year. This indicates that Yum! Brands will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 4.5 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.28

News Sentiment

Yum! Brands has a news sentiment score of 1.28. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.73 average news sentiment score of Consumer Discretionary companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 52 news articles for Yum! Brands this week, compared to 10 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

38 people have searched for YUM on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 322% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

5 people have added Yum! Brands to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 67% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Yum! Brands insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $2,978,180.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.14% of the stock of Yum! Brands is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

82.37% of the stock of Yum! Brands is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Record date for 6/12 Dividend: 5/27/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 6/12 Dividend: 5/27/2026
• Dividend Payable: 6/12/2026
• Last Earnings: 7/30/2026
• Today: 8/29/2026
• Record date for 9/18 Dividend: 9/09/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 9/18 Dividend: 9/09/2026
• Dividend Payable: 9/18/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/03/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Consumer Discretionary
• Industry: Hotels, Restaurants & Leisure
• Sub-Industry: Restaurants
• Current Symbol: NYSE:YUM
• CIK: 1041061
• Web: www.yum.com
• Phone: (502) 874-8300
• Fax: 502-874-8323
• Employees: 49,000
• Year Founded: 1997

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Yum! Brands: $174.65
• High Price Target: $190.00
• Low Price Target: $158.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +13.3%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.62
• Research Coverage: 21 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $7.95
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 19.38
• Forward P/E Ratio: 24.00
• P/E Growth: 2.5
• Net Income: $1.56 billion
• Net Margins: 25.42%
• Pretax Margin: 25.20%
• Return on Equity: -24.57%
• Return on Assets: 22.24%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: N/A
• Current Ratio: 0.59
• Quick Ratio: 0.59

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $8.21 billion
• Price / Sales: 5.12
• Cash Flow: $6.88 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 22.41
• Book Value: ($26.04) per share
• Price / Book: -5.92

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 272,900,000
• Free Float: 272,519,000
• Market Cap: $42.05 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.55