Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Price Target Raised to $165.00

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective upped by Guggenheim from $155.00 to $165.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operator’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $130.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, TD Securities restated a “hold” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.24.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 2.5 %

NYSE:YUM opened at $141.32 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $39.44 billion, a PE ratio of 27.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average is $150.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.71. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $122.13 and a 52 week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were paid a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is a positive change from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.41%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total transaction of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands 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 trade represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 52.1% in the 4th quarter. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 295 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.