Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Receives Buy Rating from TD Cowen

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at TD Cowen in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $156.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock. TD Cowen’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.83% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.4 %

Yum! Brands stock traded down $0.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $133.53. The company had a trading volume of 158,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,957,643. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $132.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.82. The company has a market cap of $37.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.08. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

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

Yum! Brands declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total value of $1,134,562.86. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 29,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sabir Sami sold 71,051 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.16, for a total transaction of $9,745,355.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 68 shares in the company, valued at $9,326.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 101,685 shares of company stock valued at $13,910,094. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. 9258 Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth about $205,000. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at $272,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 856,723 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $111,939,000 after acquiring an additional 14,068 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.1% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 5,858 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 277,561 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $35,833,000 after purchasing an additional 16,813 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.