Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) PT Raised to $148.00 at Barclays

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price target hoisted by equities researchers at Barclays from $144.00 to $148.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Barclays‘s target price points to a potential upside of 9.18% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on YUM. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $145.00 to $141.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $154.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.44.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM traded up $0.23 on Thursday, reaching $135.56. The company had a trading volume of 1,465,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,989,659. The company’s fifty day moving average is $138.30 and its 200 day moving average is $131.40. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $115.53 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20. The stock has a market cap of $38.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.07.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. Yum! Brands’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Yum! Brands will post 5.73 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total value of $963,514.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.63, for a total transaction of $1,285,799.97. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 18,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,025.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of YUM. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Bfsg LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 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.