Yum! Brands’ (YUM) Neutral Rating Reiterated at BTIG Research

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reissued by equities researchers at BTIG Research in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports.

YUM has been the topic of several other reports. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $177.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Yum! Brands from $160.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. Gordon Haskett cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $182.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Citigroup cut their target price on Yum! Brands from $176.00 to $163.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 21st. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn reduced their target price on Yum! Brands from $184.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 30th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Yum! Brands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.78.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of YUM opened at $156.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $146.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.48. The company has a market capitalization of $42.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.53. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $134.26 and a 52-week high of $170.14.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 3rd. The restaurant operator reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 25.42% and a negative return on equity of 24.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.58 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Yum! Brands news, COO Tracy L. Skeans sold 3,494 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total transaction of $552,052.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 3 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $474. This trade represents a 99.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Scott Mezvinsky sold 241 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.89, for a total transaction of $32,990.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,980.98. This represents a 33.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 4,288 shares of company stock worth $666,149 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Yum! Brands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bleakley Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Yum! Brands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,589,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $99,621,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Yum! Brands by 114.4% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 53,189 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,503,000 after purchasing an additional 28,380 shares during the last quarter. SEB Asset Management AB acquired a new position in shares of Yum! Brands in the first quarter valued at approximately $15,285,000. Finally, National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 4.0% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 470,206 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $75,167,000 after purchasing an additional 18,060 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

Yum! Brands News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Yum! Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst price targets moved higher: Deutsche Bank raised its target to $171 from $167, while TD Cowen raised its target to $180 and maintained a Buy rating. Deutsche Bank price target TD Cowen rating
• Positive Sentiment: Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.56 topped analyst estimates. KFC’s international strength helped offset weakness elsewhere, with reports citing 9% international system-sales growth; Yum also reported 3% system-sales growth and 7% unit growth excluding Pizza Hut. Q3 earnings call highlights
• Positive Sentiment: Management said Taco Bell sales are improving after the summer cyclospora outbreak. September and October trends strengthened, and loyalty members returned more quickly than other customers—potentially helping the brand’s recovery. Taco Bell loyalty and recovery
• Neutral Sentiment: Yum is expanding AI use across kitchens, drive-thrus and management, and is introducing a new KFC flagship design. These initiatives could support efficiency and customer experience over time, though near-term financial effects are unclear. Yum AI strategy
• Negative Sentiment: Taco Bell’s U.S. same-store sales fell 4% in Q3 as the outbreak hurt customer traffic. Revenue was about $2.05 billion, roughly in line with some estimates but below others, tempering the earnings beat. Taco Bell Q3 sales
• Negative Sentiment: All KFC and Taco Bell locations in Puerto Rico temporarily closed after Yum ended its relationship with the local operator and seeks a new franchise partner. This disrupts sales in the market, though the scale of the financial impact was not specified. Puerto Rico restaurant closures

Yum! Brands Company Profile

Yum! Brands, Inc is a global restaurant company that operates, franchises and licenses quick-service and fast-casual restaurants. Its principal brands are KFC, which specializes in fried and other chicken products; Taco Bell, which offers Mexican-inspired food; Pizza Hut, which sells pizzas and related menu items; and The Habit Burger Grill, a fast-casual burger restaurant chain.

The company’s business is primarily franchise-based, with restaurants operated by independent franchisees and licensees alongside company-operated locations.