Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) Declares $0.67 Quarterly Dividend

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 given a dividend of 0.67 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, December 13th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd.

Yum! Brands has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.8% annually over the last three years. Yum! Brands has a dividend payout ratio of 44.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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

Shares of Yum! Brands stock opened at $138.94 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $135.15 and a 200 day moving average of $134.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.97, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 1.10. Yum! Brands has a fifty-two week low of $123.70 and a fifty-two week high of $143.20.

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The restaurant operator reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.90 billion. Yum! Brands had a negative return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 21.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. Analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Yum! Brands

In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 7,005 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.43, for a total value of $941,682.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 152,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,518,588.62. This trade represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 21,069 shares of company stock worth $2,842,965. Corporate insiders own 0.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on YUM shares. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $147.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $150.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Yum! Brands from $137.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Redburn Atlantic cut Yum! Brands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $145.94.

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.