TD Cowen Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)

TD Cowen restated their buy rating on shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $156.00 price objective on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI downgraded Yum! Brands from an outperform rating to an inline rating and cut their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, June 13th. They issued a neutral rating and a $150.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $133.65 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $133.02 and its 200-day moving average is $135.75. Yum! Brands has a one year low of $115.53 and a one year high of $143.20. The firm has a market cap of $37.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.08.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.96% and a negative return on equity of 18.90%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.62 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.52%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 159,132 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,947,485.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,069 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.92, for a total transaction of $974,956.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 159,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,947,485.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,414.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 94,624 shares of company stock worth $12,946,761 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $4,022,648,000 after purchasing an additional 5,607,517 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 23.7% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,512,561,000 after purchasing an additional 3,470,883 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,033,906,000 after purchasing an additional 1,362,813 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,939,663 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $823,534,000 after acquiring an additional 121,285 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.