Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Cut to Market Perform at Sanford C. Bernstein

Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $135.00 target price on the restaurant operator’s stock, down from their prior target price of $140.00.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $141.00 price target (down previously from $153.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Friday, January 10th. Bank of America lowered their target price on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Loop Capital cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $144.89.

Yum! Brands Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $128.31 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $133.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.51. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The company has a market capitalization of $35.81 billion, a PE ratio of 23.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 1.11.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Yum! Brands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.09%.

Insider Activity

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% during the 3rd quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter worth about $37,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $42,000. 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.