TD Cowen Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)

TD Cowen restated their buy rating on shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) in a research report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $160.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on YUM. Guggenheim raised their target price on Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Barclays dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $144.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a hold rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of Yum! Brands from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $154.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $144.31.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

YUM opened at $134.34 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $131.42. The firm has a market cap of $37.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $115.53 and a 1 year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $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 anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total value of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,064 shares of company stock worth $3,228,698 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Bfsg LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.