Goldman Sachs reported on Thursday that they have upgraded
restaurant company, Yum! Brands, Inc.( YUM ) to a
"Buy."
The firm has upgraded YUM from "Neutral" to a "Buy," and have
increased its price target from $67 to $77. This price target
suggests a 12% increase from the stock's current price of
$67.64.
An analyst from the firm commented, "we see YUM as the premier
emerging markets company in Restaurants and believe that
uncertainty in China driven by the company's recent negative SSS
figure in that geography provides for a good entry point into the
shares. Our analysis suggests that YUM's recent soft sales in China
are macro-driven and not the result of a fundamental deterioration
of the company's long-term trajectory in China."
Looking ahead, the firm has reaffirmed its estimates for 2012
EPS of $3.25. Goldman Sachs expects to see 2013 EPS of $3.76 and
2014 EPS of $4.37.
YUM! Brands is a restaurant company which operates several chain
restaurants including KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John
Silver's, and A&W All-American Food Restaurants. In its most
recent quarter, YUM reported net income of $471 million and revenue
of $3.57 billion.
YUM! Dividend In Focus
YUM! Brands paid out a dividend of 33.5 cents in the latest quarter ,
which represents a dividend yield of about 1.98%. The company
increased their quarterly dividend payment to 33.5 cents from 28.5
cents in November. The next payment of 33.5 cents will be paid
February 1 to shareholders of record on January 11. This stock has
a ex-dividend date of January 9. (view the Dividend.com Ex-Dividend Tool for information on all upcoming
ex-dividend dates).
Recent YUM! Brands dividends include:
- October 2, 2012: $0.335
- August 3, 2012: $0.285
- May 4, 2012: $0.285
In addition to slowly increasing its absolute dividend payout,
YUM's payout ratio has gradually increased over the past three
years:
| Year | Dividend ($M) | Payout Ratio |
|---|
| 2009 | $376.7 | 35.1% |
| 2010 | $427.6 | 37% |
| 2011 | $500 | 37.8% |
YUM's vs. The Competition
Dividend.com has identified several dividend paying companies as
direct competition for YUM including: Darden Restaurants(
DRI ), The Wendy's Company( WEN
), McDonalds( MCD ),Bob Evans Farms(
BOBE ), and Brinker International(
EAT ). These companies are all similar to YUM
regarding dividend yield, as well as their Dividend.com DARS™
rating.
| Ticker | Company | Yield | DARS |
|---|
| YUM | YUM! Brands | 1.98% | 3.4 |
| WEN | The Wendy's Company | 3.39% | 2.9 |
| BOBE | Bob Evans Farms | 2.72% | 3.4 |
| MCD | McDonald's | 3.45% | 3.4 |
| DRI | Darden Restaurants | 4.37% | 3.4 |
| EAT | Brinker International | 2.60% | 3.4 |
Use the Dividend.com screener to see all dividend-paying
consumer goods stocks, or run other custom searches for
dividend-paying stocks.
Yum! shares were up 98 cents, or 1.48% during premarket trading
Thursday. The stock is up 14.6% YTD.
Yum! Brands, Inc.( YUM ) is not recommended
at this time, holding a Dividend.com DARS™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5
stars.
Be sure to visit our complete recommended list of the Best Dividend Stocks , as well
as a detailed explanation of our ratings system here .