Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Cuts Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target to $145.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price target trimmed by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $147.00 to $145.00 in a research note released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on YUM. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen downgraded Yum! Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $156.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $137.21 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $123.60 and a 52-week high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $38.58 billion, a PE ratio of 25.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.81.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.09%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total transaction of $179,856.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,414.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.40, for a total value of $179,856.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $169,414.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 8,234 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.79, for a total transaction of $1,134,562.86. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,017,818.61. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 30,622 shares of company stock valued at $4,172,740. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 24.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,012,969 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $4,022,648,000 after purchasing an additional 5,607,517 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 23.7% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,121,611 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,512,561,000 after buying an additional 3,470,883 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the first quarter worth about $200,668,000. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.2% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,669,356 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $2,033,906,000 after acquiring an additional 1,362,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 36.6% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,174,526 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $301,498,000 after acquiring an additional 582,267 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.