Brokerages Set Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Price Target at $150.95

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $151.79.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.07, for a total value of $94,964.79. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 64 shares in the company, valued at $10,180.48. This trade represents a 90.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.0% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 16,032 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,240,000 after acquiring an additional 914 shares during the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,226 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 41.9% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 2,653 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 689,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $96,348,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 38.6% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,544 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.2 %

YUM stock opened at $157.85 on Friday. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $163.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $143.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.67. The firm has a market cap of $44.06 billion, a PE ratio of 30.24, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

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.