Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Cut to $160.00 by Analysts at Guggenheim

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price target cut by Guggenheim from $167.00 to $160.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

YUM has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $164.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and thirteen have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $162.82.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 1.3%

NYSE:YUM opened at $141.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $39.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.72. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $147.00 and its 200-day moving average is $146.25. Yum! Brands has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 21.01% and a net margin of 18.11%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.35 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 2,038 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.30, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 62.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total value of $1,811,492.80. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 29,078 shares of company stock valued at $4,304,785 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.9% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 353,103 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $55,564,000 after acquiring an additional 6,673 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.2% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 256,961 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $40,435,000 after acquiring an additional 3,172 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $1,172,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 11.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 498,597 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $78,459,000 after acquiring an additional 51,419 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 741.1% during the first quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 6,157 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $968,000 after acquiring an additional 5,425 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.