TD Cowen Reiterates Buy Rating for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)

TD Cowen reiterated their buy rating on shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. TD Cowen currently has a $160.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a hold rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Argus reissued a hold rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Yum! Brands from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price target for the company from $150.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded Yum! Brands from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $154.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $143.53.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $134.34 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $115.53 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.82 billion, a PE ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $138.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $131.53.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.64% and a net margin of 22.92%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.06 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,078 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.37, for a total value of $979,382.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,128 shares in the company, valued at $23,817,351.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,405,452 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $3,058,156,000 after acquiring an additional 373,232 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 14,650,728 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,914,257,000 after purchasing an additional 678,659 shares during the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.8% during the third quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 5,766,650 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $720,485,000 after purchasing an additional 210,238 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 3.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,278,341 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $409,596,000 after buying an additional 124,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter valued at $331,831,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.