Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $165.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price raised by Guggenheim from $155.00 to $165.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on YUM. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.24.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of YUM stock opened at $145.74 on Tuesday. Yum! Brands has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $163.30. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $151.79 and a 200-day moving average of $139.94. The company has a market capitalization of $40.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a $0.71 dividend. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,897,573.60. This trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 5,293 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 157,893 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,353,416.32. This trade represents a 3.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 over the last ninety days. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 436.5% in the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 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.