Piper Sandler Issues Positive Forecast for Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Stock Price

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) had its price objective raised by analysts at Piper Sandler from $140.00 to $150.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the restaurant operator’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 5.14% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on YUM. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Yum! Brands in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Argus raised Yum! Brands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $151.70.

Yum! Brands Price Performance

Shares of YUM opened at $158.13 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50-day moving average is $149.08 and its 200-day moving average is $139.16. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $122.13 and a fifty-two week high of $163.30.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 30,604 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $4,880,113.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,560,800.16. This represents a 16.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP David Eric Russell sold 5,000 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.66, for a total transaction of $793,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,960 shares in the company, valued at $1,897,573.60. This represents a 29.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,132 shares of company stock worth $7,952,685 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 33.4% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,074 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $169,000 after buying an additional 269 shares during the period. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP bought a new position in shares of Yum! Brands during the fourth quarter valued at $525,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 62,335 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $8,363,000 after acquiring an additional 14,077 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its holdings in shares of Yum! Brands by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 114,652 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $15,382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 4th quarter worth about $62,000. Institutional investors own 82.37% of the company’s stock.

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.