Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $176.00 at Robert W. Baird

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective raised by Robert W. Baird from $160.00 to $176.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

YUM has been the subject of several other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Argus upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $150.65.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $159.53 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.56, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. Yum! Brands has a one year low of $122.13 and a one year high of $161.28. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $137.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.04.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be given a $0.71 dividend. 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%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.41%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in YUM. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $418,692,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 20.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,545,872 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $475,714,000 after purchasing an additional 601,361 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 31.7% in the 4th 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 period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $59,289,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth $43,944,000. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.