Morgan Stanley Cuts Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target to $153.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price cut by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $153.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 19.02% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on YUM. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, June 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.31.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM stock traded up $0.66 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $128.55. The company had a trading volume of 982,864 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,984,586. The company’s fifty day moving average is $135.33 and its 200 day moving average is $135.03. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.20 billion, a PE ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The business had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.06 earnings per share. Yum! Brands’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.64 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paget Leonard Alves sold 6,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.19, for a total value of $859,222.71. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, Director Paget Leonard Alves sold 6,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.19, for a total transaction of $859,222.71. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,936,793.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,398 shares of company stock worth $4,552,727 in the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 5,607,517 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 23.7% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,512,561,000 after buying an additional 3,470,883 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $2,033,906,000 after buying 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 first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,939,663 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $823,534,000 after buying an additional 121,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $331,831,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.