Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The restaurant operator reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.80 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 22.92% and a negative return on equity of 18.64%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.41 earnings per share.

Yum! Brands Stock Performance

YUM traded down $0.88 on Wednesday, reaching $135.97. The company had a trading volume of 1,479,720 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,991,898. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $132.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.12. The company has a market cap of $38.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.07. Yum! Brands has a 52-week low of $115.53 and a 52-week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 7th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 28th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 24th. Yum! Brands’s payout ratio is 47.52%.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In related news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total value of $969,991.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,160,066.06. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, insider Scott Catlett sold 5,994 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.50, for a total transaction of $848,151.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 34,889 shares in the company, valued at $4,936,793.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,073 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.14, for a total transaction of $969,991.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 168,879 shares in the company, valued at $23,160,066.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 27,089 shares of company stock valued at $3,693,505 over the last three months. 0.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $160.00 to $145.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $133.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $156.00 price objective on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Yum! Brands currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.00.

Yum! Brands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the restaurant operator to repurchase up to 5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.