Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $160.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) had its price objective upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $138.00 to $160.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the restaurant operator's stock.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on YUM. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $151.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Barclays increased 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. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Fifteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $151.79.

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Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

Yum! Brands stock traded down $0.93 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $155.82. 1,952,505 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,887,687. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.85, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $144.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $138.03.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.71 dividend. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. This is an increase from Yum! Brands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total value of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.24, for a total transaction of $816,392.32. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 157,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,353,416.32. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $418,692,000. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth about $59,289,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,944,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.