Citigroup Issues Positive Forecast for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Stock Price

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price target increased by stock analysts at Citigroup from $148.00 to $151.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Citigroup’s target price suggests a potential upside of 3.70% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on YUM. Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Argus upgraded Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $174.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.71.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM traded down $0.38 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $145.62. 221,481 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,330,512. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $152.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.08. The company has a market cap of $40.64 billion, a PE ratio of 27.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. Yum! Brands has a twelve month low of $122.13 and a twelve month high of $163.30.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. The trade was a 16.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 50,132 shares of company stock valued at $7,952,685 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $418,692,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 14,795.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 769,805 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $121,137,000 after acquiring an additional 764,637 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its position in Yum! Brands by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,379 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $252,272,000 after purchasing an additional 452,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth approximately $59,289,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.