Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Cut to “Hold” at Redburn Atlantic

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) was downgraded by research analysts at Redburn Atlantic from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Evercore ISI cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. 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. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $135.00 to $130.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Loop Capital cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.94.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $134.61 on Monday. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $123.70 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $134.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.69. The company has a market capitalization of $37.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The company had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.49 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares in the company, valued at $20,518,588.62. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of 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 through this hyperlink. Also, Director Weir Mirian M. Graddick sold 1,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $169,414.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 22,388 shares of company stock worth $3,038,177. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 2,049 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.2% during the second quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,460 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $458,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.9% in the second quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 4,169 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $552,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 2.4% in the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,321 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 2,477 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. 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.