Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $143.89, but opened at $148.00. Yum! Brands shares last traded at $149.3580, with a volume of 820,393 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on YUM shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $165.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $163.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $160.00 price objective on Yum! Brands in a research report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their target price on Yum! Brands from $167.00 to $160.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.38.

Yum! Brands Trading Up 1.9%

The firm has a market cap of $41.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $146.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.54.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The restaurant operator reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.12. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 17.95% and a negative return on equity of 21.79%. The firm had revenue of $1.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Yum! Brands, Inc. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 2nd. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 55.36%.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In related news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 24,332 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total value of $3,627,901.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Erika Burkhardt sold 1,269 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.37, for a total value of $189,550.53. Following the transaction, the insider owned 64 shares in the company, valued at $9,559.68. This represents a 95.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 38,146 shares of company stock worth $5,699,770. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.6% in the second quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its position in Yum! Brands by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 1,915 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum! Brands by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,048 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC boosted its position in Yum! Brands by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. GRIMES & Co WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC now owns 3,197 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spirepoint Private Client LLC increased its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Spirepoint Private Client LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.