Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $150.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price target hoisted by Piper Sandler from $140.00 to $150.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on YUM. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price target (down from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Friday, January 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $151.70.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $147.52 on Thursday. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $150.15 and its 200 day moving average is $139.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.26, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.93%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.41%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 597 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 64 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180.48. The trade was a 90.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,604,632 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,021,194,000 after buying an additional 163,462 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at about $418,692,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,521,583 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $338,296,000 after purchasing an additional 24,681 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,355,367 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $315,996,000 after purchasing an additional 94,026 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.