Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.41 EPS.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:YUM traded down $0.38 on Wednesday, hitting $136.47. 3,070,985 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,002,436. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $135.12. The company has a market cap of $38.43 billion, a PE ratio of 24.06, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.52%.

Yum! Brands declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total transaction of $969,991.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,879 shares in the company, valued at $23,160,066.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total transaction of $969,991.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,160,066.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total value of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at $4,936,793.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,089 shares of company stock worth $3,693,505 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on YUM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

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.