Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Upgraded to “Hold” at Royal Bank Of Canada

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) was upgraded by stock analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

YUM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $158.00 to $156.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Yum! Brands from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $177.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $161.48.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE YUM opened at $142.84 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $147.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.98. The company has a market cap of $39.64 billion, a PE ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.72. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $163.30.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 18.11% and a negative return on equity of 21.01%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.35 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,176 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.80, for a total value of $1,074,964.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 102,893 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,413,371.40. This trade represents a 6.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 12,220 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $148.24, for a total transaction of $1,811,492.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,195 shares of company stock valued at $5,348,137 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Yum! Brands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of YUM. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 7,861 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,055,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 70.6% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,015 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 1,248 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 135.6% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 11,224 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $1,766,000 after purchasing an additional 6,461 shares during the period. CX Institutional raised its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. CX Institutional now owns 2,942 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the period. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter valued at $217,000. 82.37% of the stock is currently owned by 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.