Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Upgraded at Redburn Atlantic

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Redburn Atlantic from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $177.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, up from their prior target price of $145.00. Redburn Atlantic’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 23.45% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on YUM. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $158.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $148.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $151.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $158.24.

Yum! Brands Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE YUM opened at $143.37 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $145.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.21. The company has a market capitalization of $39.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.47, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.74. Yum! Brands has a 1-year low of $122.13 and a 1-year high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The restaurant operator reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.01. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 19.68% and a negative return on equity of 20.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.15 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,139 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.70, for a total transaction of $753,891.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,162,903.10. This represents a 3.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 268 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.97, for a total transaction of $39,119.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $256,177.35. This represents a 13.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,763 shares of company stock valued at $2,637,564 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 4.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after buying an additional 452,339 shares during the period. DJE Kapital AG bought a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $3,306,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 54.2% during the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 140,412 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $18,838,000 after buying an additional 49,362 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,677,290 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $225,025,000 after buying an additional 44,428 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.