Yum! Brands’ (YUM) “Buy (B)” Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings reaffirmed their buy (b) rating on shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) in a report issued on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Citigroup upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $165.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada initiated coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $165.00 price target for the company. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $163.14.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $143.37 on Friday. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $146.30.

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

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is currently 56.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $152.59, for a total value of $41,962.25. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,755 shares in the company, valued at $267,795.45. This trade represents a 13.55% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total transaction of $296,121.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $179,154.90. The trade was a 62.31% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,078 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,785 over the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the second quarter valued at $602,551,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 34.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,789,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $413,382,000 after buying an additional 713,167 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 115.8% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 1,311,849 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $197,013,000 after buying an additional 703,891 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth about $97,453,000. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 35.9% during the 2nd quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,306,932 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $341,841,000 after acquiring an additional 609,223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.