Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $163.63 and last traded at $163.08, with a volume of 355707 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $159.06.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on YUM. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $179.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Thursday. Evercore raised shares of Yum! Brands from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Yum! Brands from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.50.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 2.5%

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $153.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $149.37. The company has a market capitalization of $45.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.66.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The business’s revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.61 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 54.05%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,365,096. The trade was a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 276 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.17, for a total transaction of $42,274.92. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 36,608 shares of company stock worth $5,607,456. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Augustine Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,287 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 6,667 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 3,197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $486,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 1.8% during the third quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 4,085 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $621,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.