Yum! Brands price target raised to $156 from $146 at BofA

BofA raised the firm’s price target on Yum! Brands (YUM) to $156 from $146 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. After a Q2 earnings season that “seemed to hit the market like a bucket of cold water,” investor enthusiasm for restaurants is “decidedly absent,” says the analyst, who has also grown more cautious given the widening of macro pressures beyond the low-income cohort. For stocks trading at the low end of their historical valuation ranges, the firm expects the market to respond favorably to signs that earnings are intact, the analyst added in a group preview.