Yum! Brands, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.67 (NYSE:YUM)

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 21st,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.67 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd.

Yum! Brands has increased its dividend by an average of 8.8% annually over the last three years. Yum! Brands has a payout ratio of 44.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Yum! Brands to earn $6.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 44.5%.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

NYSE:YUM opened at $135.26 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $134.45 and its 200-day moving average is $134.50. Yum! Brands has a 52 week low of $123.70 and a 52 week high of $143.20. The firm has a market cap of $37.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.10.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last released 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). The firm had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 21.13% and a negative return on equity of 18.93%. The company’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Yum! Brands will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on YUM shares. Loop Capital lowered their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $145.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total transaction of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,518,588.62. The trade was a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965 over the last 90 days. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.