Analysts Set Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Price Target at $161.23

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) have been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the twenty-three analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $161.2273.

Several research analysts have commented on YUM shares. Melius assumed coverage on Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Redburn Atlantic raised Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $153.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.9%

NYSE YUM opened at $144.76 on Monday. Yum! Brands has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30. The company has a market cap of $40.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s fifty day moving average is $145.40 and its 200 day moving average is $147.16.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.46 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.35 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,117 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $146.60, for a total transaction of $1,043,352.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at $15,084,113.80. This represents a 6.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 263 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.92, for a total value of $36,798.96. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $245,559.60. This represents a 13.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 7,920 shares of company stock worth $1,159,603. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 7.2% in the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,417 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 115.8% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $197,013,000 after acquiring an additional 703,891 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 124.5% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 151,316 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $22,422,000 after acquiring an additional 83,916 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 44.1% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,705 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $253,000 after acquiring an additional 522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Yum! Brands by 34.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $413,382,000 after acquiring an additional 713,167 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.