Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Citigroup Analyst Says

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective lifted by Citigroup from $148.00 to $151.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Citigroup’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 5.83% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on YUM. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.71.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $142.68 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands has a 12 month low of $122.13 and a 12 month high of $163.30. The stock has a market cap of $39.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.33, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $152.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.13.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.36, for a total value of $1,367,913.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 2,970 shares in the company, valued at approximately $470,329.20. This represents a 74.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total value of $753,891.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,162,903.10. This trade represents a 3.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $418,692,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $121,137,000 after purchasing an additional 764,637 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,289,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

About Yum! Brands

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.