Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $153.00 at Morgan Stanley

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective lifted by Morgan Stanley from $151.00 to $153.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on YUM. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $185.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $159.86.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $147.26 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $145.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.85.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.85 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.42% and a negative return on equity of 20.80%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 27th were given a $0.71 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 56.57%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.57, for a total transaction of $1,028,160.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,984,484.01. This trade represents a 4.28% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.28, for a total transaction of $40,332.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,231.40. This trade represents a 13.42% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,603 shares of company stock valued at $1,107,613. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 151.4% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 156,690 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $24,657,000 after buying an additional 94,355 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $270,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at about $939,000. First National Bank Sioux Falls bought a new position in Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth about $283,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Yum! Brands by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 353,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $55,564,000 after purchasing an additional 6,673 shares during 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.