Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.05 EPS

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The restaurant operator reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.05), Briefing.com reports. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.57% and a negative return on equity of 17.76%. The firm had revenue of $1.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.06 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE YUM traded down $0.26 during trading on Thursday, hitting $135.07. 2,425,352 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,993,557. Yum! Brands has a 12-month low of $115.53 and a 12-month high of $143.20. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $138.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $131.40. The company has a market capitalization of $38.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.07.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 175,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,910,900.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.34, for a total transaction of $963,514.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 175,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,910,900.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 9,919 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 9th. The shares were 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 directly 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. Insiders have sold 24,064 shares of company stock valued at $3,228,698 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $134.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $144.44.

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.