Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $180.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price upped by TD Cowen from $177.00 to $180.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $167.00 price objective (down from $174.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Bank of America increased their target price on Yum! Brands from $191.00 to $193.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Gordon Haskett cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $182.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.67.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $165.89 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $134.26 and a 52-week high of $170.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $146.71 and a 200 day moving average of $153.54. The company has a market capitalization of $45.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.53.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 3rd. The restaurant operator reported $1.56 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.05. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 39.14% and a negative return on equity of 25.54%. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 6.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 9th were issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 9th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 24.08%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Christopher Turner sold 285 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.11, for a total transaction of $39,931.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 63,225 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,858,454.75. The trade was a 0.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 241 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.89, for a total value of $32,990.49. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,980.98. This trade represents a 33.33% 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. Insiders sold a total of 4,288 shares of company stock valued at $666,149 in the last three months. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of YUM. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $4,186,811,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 1,373.2% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,631,940 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $740,462,000 after purchasing an additional 4,317,526 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $638,589,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth about $297,591,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the second quarter worth about $279,432,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Yum! Brands

Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Taco Bell sales are rebounding after the summer food-safety outbreak, with the recovery reportedly outpacing expectations. KFC International also delivered strong growth, helping offset softness in the U.S. Taco Bell recovery article
• Positive Sentiment: Guggenheim raised its price target to $180 and assigned a Buy rating, signaling potential upside in its view. Guggenheim rating information
• Neutral Sentiment: Q3 revenue was about $2.054 billion, while the earnings beat was helped by a gain from the Pizza Hut sale. Yum also reported growth excluding Pizza Hut, but results varied across its brands. Earnings and bull-case article
• Negative Sentiment: KFC’s U.S. system sales fell 6% in the quarter, suggesting its domestic turnaround remains difficult. Zacks Research also downgraded YUM from Hold to Strong Sell, adding a bearish counterpoint to the positive analyst target revisions. KFC U.S. sales article

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that operates, franchises and licenses quick-service and fast-casual restaurants. Its principal brands are KFC, which specializes in fried and other chicken products; Taco Bell, which offers Mexican-inspired food; Pizza Hut, which sells pizzas and related menu items; and The Habit Burger Grill, a fast-casual burger restaurant chain.

The company’s business is primarily franchise-based, with restaurants operated by independent franchisees and licensees alongside company-operated locations.