Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.71 on March 7th

Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.71 per share by the restaurant operator on Friday, March 7th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 21st. This is an increase from Yum! Brands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67.

Yum! Brands has increased its dividend by an average of 10.3% per year over the last three years. Yum! Brands has a dividend payout ratio of 42.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Yum! Brands to earn $6.64 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.8%.

Yum! Brands Stock Down 0.4 %

YUM stock opened at $147.27 on Wednesday. Yum! Brands has a 12-month low of $122.13 and a 12-month high of $149.30. The company has a market cap of $41.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $133.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,815 shares of Yum! Brands stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.06, for a total transaction of $522,883.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 149,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,474,708.10. This trade represents a 2.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

YUM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $140.00 target price (down from $158.00) on shares of Yum! Brands in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Loop Capital reduced their price target on Yum! Brands from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. TD Securities upped their price target on Yum! Brands from $140.00 to $151.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Yum! Brands from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Yum! Brands presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $147.37.

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.