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

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective increased by Stifel Nicolaus from $130.00 to $148.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “hold” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective indicates a potential downside of 3.84% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on YUM. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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, February 7th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 31st. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.32.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $153.91 on Friday. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $155.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $135.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $135.47. The stock has a market cap of $42.96 billion, a PE ratio of 29.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was 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 owns 149,385 shares in the company, valued at $20,474,708.10. This represents a 2.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in YUM. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in Yum! Brands by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 127,446 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $17,805,000 after acquiring an additional 17,133 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the third quarter worth $1,262,000. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in Yum! Brands by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 110,500 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $14,825,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 3.1% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 689,631 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $96,348,000 after purchasing an additional 20,966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Infusive Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Yum! Brands by 15.1% during the third quarter. Infusive Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,419 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $6,066,000 after buying an additional 5,684 shares during the last quarter. 82.37% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.