Weekly Investment Analysts’ Ratings Changes for Yum! Brands (YUM)

A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) recently:

• 10/23/2023 – Yum! Brands had its price target lowered by analysts at Barclays PLC from $140.00 to $126.00. They now have an “equal weight” rating on the stock.
• 10/20/2023 – Yum! Brands had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Redburn Atlantic. They now have a $115.00 price target on the stock.
• 10/19/2023 – Yum! Brands is now covered by analysts at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft. They set a “hold” rating and a $131.00 price target on the stock.
• 10/17/2023 – Yum! Brands had its price target lowered by analysts at Citigroup Inc. from $173.00 to $163.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 10/11/2023 – Yum! Brands had its price target lowered by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $150.00. They now have an “overweight” rating on the stock.
• 10/5/2023 – Yum! Brands is now covered by analysts at StockNews.com. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 9/20/2023 – Yum! Brands had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at TD Cowen. They now have a $160.00 price target on the stock.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $121.32 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $34.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.56, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $124.21 and its 200-day moving average is $131.53. Yum! Brands, Inc. has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.24.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 16.16% and a net margin of 20.31%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 29th were paid a $0.605 dividend. This represents a $2.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 28th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,858 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.81, for a total transaction of $520,096.98. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,727,983.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,507 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.55, for a total value of $412,247.85. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,325 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,738,553.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,858 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.81, for a total value of $520,096.98. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 57,325 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,727,983.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,501 shares of company stock worth $1,610,644. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 24,692,484 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,421,144,000 after acquiring an additional 3,549,709 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.1% in the 2nd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 13,169,962 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,824,305,000 after purchasing an additional 2,207,942 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.7% during the second quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 13,112,434 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,816,672,000 after acquiring an additional 468,081 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,490,727 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,592,040,000 after purchasing an additional 507,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,136,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $848,921,000 after acquiring an additional 188,878 shares during the last quarter. 80.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through four segments: the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division. It 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.