Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Stock

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price raised by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $147.00 to $151.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 1.20% from the stock’s current price.

YUM has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.20.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $149.21 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $151.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $140.99. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.58, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 20.33% and a net margin of 19.68%. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 8,638 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 2,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,329.20. This trade represents a 74.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock valued at $8,706,576 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YUM. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 1,329 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in Yum! Brands by 128.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 9,128 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,275,000 after purchasing an additional 5,134 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 54.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 47,604 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,651,000 after purchasing an additional 16,767 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 10.5% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 39,292 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $5,490,000 after buying an additional 3,721 shares in the last quarter. 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.