Brokerages Set Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Target Price at $145.94

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $145.94.

A number of brokerages recently commented on YUM. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Loop Capital cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:YUM traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $138.16. 1,450,448 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,933,772. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $135.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.46. Yum! Brands has a one year low of $123.70 and a one year high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $38.56 billion, a PE ratio of 25.74, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total transaction of $959,600.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company's stock, valued at $20,307,396.90. This represents a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock valued at $2,842,965. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5,077.1% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 182,130 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $25,445,000 after acquiring an additional 178,612 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,151.9% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 148,220 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $20,708,000 after purchasing an additional 147,180 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $1,038,775,000 after purchasing an additional 111,147 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Yum! Brands by 140.1% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 126,550 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $16,763,000 after acquiring an additional 73,844 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.