Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $166.08 and last traded at $164.9630, with a volume of 158458 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.33.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on YUM. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $180.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Gordon Haskett raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Monday, November 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.00.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $46.07 billion, a PE ratio of 29.90, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $156.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.29.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($0.03). Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 22.42% and a net margin of 18.98%.The company had revenue of $2.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.61 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yum! Brands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 20th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a boost from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.71. Yum! Brands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO Aaron Powell sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.44, for a total value of $1,937,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 14,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,365,096. This trade represents a 45.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 1,612 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.63, for a total value of $265,383.56. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 13,888 shares of company stock worth $2,244,938 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after buying an additional 583 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.0% during the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 4,248 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $630,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel boosted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 16.0% in the second quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel now owns 2,216 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the period. AlTi Global Inc. grew its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.9% in the second quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 2,495 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in Yum! Brands by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 686,171 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $101,677,000 after purchasing an additional 11,296 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc (NYSE: YUM) is a global quick-service restaurant company that develops, operates and franchises a portfolio of well-known restaurant brands. The company’s principal brands are KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, each focused on distinct product categories—KFC on fried chicken and related menu items, Pizza Hut on pizza and complementary offerings, and Taco Bell on Mexican-inspired quick-service food. Yum! is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky and was formed as Tricon Global Restaurants in 1997 when PepsiCo spun off its restaurant businesses, later adopting the Yum! Brands name.

The company’s operating model centers on brand development, system growth and franchising; a large portion of its restaurants are operated by independent franchisees, and Yum! generates revenue through franchise royalties and fees in addition to sales from company-operated locations.