Yum! Brands’ (YUM) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at TD Securities

TD Securities reiterated their hold rating on shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $158.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

YUM has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Barclays dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $165.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $156.20.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $149.21 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $41.55 billion, a PE ratio of 28.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average is $151.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $140.99.

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

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.71 dividend. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This represents a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,271 shares of company stock worth $8,706,576. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. 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.