Barclays Boosts Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target to $165.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Barclays from $162.00 to $165.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Barclays‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 14.99% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on YUM. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.05.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE YUM traded down $0.52 on Friday, hitting $143.49. 2,694,286 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,167,052. Yum! Brands has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $144.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.04 billion, a PE ratio of 26.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $132.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $133.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Yum! Brands’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 13,582 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,822,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 62,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,441,000 after buying an additional 7,116 shares during the period. Markel Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. Markel Group Inc. now owns 205,502 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $27,570,000 after acquiring an additional 49,000 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 7,180 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $963,000 after acquiring an additional 176 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 11,380 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,527,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.