Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Given New $151.00 Price Target at TD Securities

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price upped by TD Securities from $140.00 to $151.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

YUM has been the subject of several other research reports. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Loop Capital lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $147.05.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM stock opened at $143.49 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $132.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.72. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $144.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 51.34%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.