Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.41 EPS.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.6 %

NYSE:YUM traded down $0.88 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $135.97. 1,479,720 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,991,898. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day moving average of $132.82 and a 200 day moving average of $135.12. Yum! Brands has a 1-year low of $115.53 and a 1-year high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on YUM. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $153.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.00.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, May 15th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the restaurant operator to reacquire up to 5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total transaction of $969,991.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 168,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,160,066.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total transaction of $969,991.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 168,879 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,160,066.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 34,889 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,936,793.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,089 shares of company stock worth $3,693,505 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.31% 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.