Redburn Atlantic Downgrades Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) to Hold

Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on YUM. TD Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $135.28. 3,054,991 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,954,313. The stock's 50-day moving average is $134.37 and its 200-day moving average is $134.64. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $123.70 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The company has a market cap of $37.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The business's revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands's payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at $20,518,588.62. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,233 shares in the company, valued at approximately $169,414.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 22,388 shares of company stock valued at $3,038,177 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth $28,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 43.6% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 270 shares of the restaurant operator's stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 3,088.9% during the 2nd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 287 shares of the restaurant operator's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.