Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) PT Lowered to $130.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price lowered by research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $135.00 to $130.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target points to a potential upside of 2.80% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, June 13th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 1.7 %

YUM opened at $126.46 on Monday. Yum! Brands has a twelve month low of $115.53 and a twelve month high of $143.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $134.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.97. The company has a market cap of $35.61 billion, a PE ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to buy up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 168,879 shares in the company, valued at $23,160,066.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 33,398 shares of company stock valued at $4,552,727. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of YUM. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 72.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 65,775 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,218,000 after purchasing an additional 27,674 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,907 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,584 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,252,000 after acquiring an additional 1,732 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,826 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in 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.