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

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its target price boosted by TD Securities from $151.00 to $164.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. TD Securities currently has a hold rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

YUM has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $141.00 price objective (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Friday, January 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $150.65.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Yum! Brands stock opened at $159.53 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $137.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.04. The stock has a market cap of $44.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $161.28.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 21st. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is presently 54.41%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Yum! Brands during the third quarter valued at $29,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its position in Yum! Brands by 436.5% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 279 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. 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.