Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Stock

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price target boosted by research analysts at Barclays from $162.00 to $165.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Barclays‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 14.99% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on YUM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $140.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Thursday. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $147.05.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM traded down $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $143.49. The stock had a trading volume of 2,694,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,167,052. The firm has a market cap of $40.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.11. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $122.13 and a 52-week high of $144.71. The business’s fifty day moving average is $132.28 and its 200 day moving average is $133.72.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.41 by ($0.04). Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Yum! Brands

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total value of $522,883.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. The trade was a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 957.1% in the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 222 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in 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 during the period. 82.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.