Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Rating Lowered to “Market Perform” at Sanford C. Bernstein

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) was downgraded by Sanford C. Bernstein from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They currently have a $135.00 price target on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their prior price target of $140.00. Sanford C. Bernstein’s price target points to a potential upside of 7.45% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Redburn Atlantic cut Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.3 %

Yum! Brands stock opened at $125.64 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands has a 1 year low of $122.13 and a 1 year high of $143.20. The company’s 50-day moving average is $133.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.63. The company has a market cap of $35.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.48, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,059 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.94, for a total value of $959,600.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,307,396.90. This trade represents a 4.51 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,441,170 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,038,775,000 after acquiring an additional 111,147 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 3,164,159 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $419,123,000 after purchasing an additional 104,328 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,632,862 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $228,127,000 after purchasing an additional 6,537 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 3.8% in the third quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,428,040 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $199,511,000 after purchasing an additional 51,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 835,800 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $116,770,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands Company Profile

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.